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Lot Essay
Jean-François Leleu, maître 1764.
This elegant late Louis XV marquetry and parquetry bibliothèque basse by Jean-François Leleu epitomises the restrained neoclassical style for which the ébéniste was an early proponent.
With its Vitruvian scroll frieze and glazed doors, this low cabinet relates to the pair of ebony coquillers delivered by Joseph Baumhauer circa 1755 to Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully together with the celebrated bureau plat and cartonnier now in the Musée Condé at Chantilly (inv.OA 357). This commission, regarded as one of the earliest manifestation of the ‘goût à la grecque’ in French Decorative Arts, was familiar to Leleu, whose stamp interestingly appears on one of the low cabinets which he is known to have restored and altered for its subsequent owner the maréchal de Choiseul-Stainville (sold from Houghton Hall at Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 80). The distinctive flower-filled upper frieze, for its part, is a leitmotif in Leleu’s oeuvre and closely resembles the one visible on a desk supplied in 1773 by Leleu to the prince de Condé for the Palais de Bourbon, described in a bill of 24 May 1773 as having 'dans la frise un entrelas et rosaces nuancés' (see A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p. 340), sold at Sotheby’s, Monaco, 9 December 1984, lot 1054. It also appears with minor variations on a secrétaire in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 508, fig. A, and a secrétaire inlaid with the cypher 'M', sold Christie's Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 34. Only a few meubles d’appui by Leleu have survived, such as two smaller bibliothèque basses with glazed doors and similar cut-cornered panelled sides, one sold from the Alexander collection, Christie’s, New York, 30 April 1999, the other sold from the collection of Monsieur René Smadja, 19 December 2007, lot 727 (112,800 euros); similar panels with rosettes are also displayed on a pair of low cabinets now in the Musée de Nissim de Camondo (illustrated in S. Legrand-Rossi, Le Mobilier du Musée Nissim de Camondo, Dijon, 2012, pp. 3, 88-9).
This elegant late Louis XV marquetry and parquetry bibliothèque basse by Jean-François Leleu epitomises the restrained neoclassical style for which the ébéniste was an early proponent.
With its Vitruvian scroll frieze and glazed doors, this low cabinet relates to the pair of ebony coquillers delivered by Joseph Baumhauer circa 1755 to Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully together with the celebrated bureau plat and cartonnier now in the Musée Condé at Chantilly (inv.OA 357). This commission, regarded as one of the earliest manifestation of the ‘goût à la grecque’ in French Decorative Arts, was familiar to Leleu, whose stamp interestingly appears on one of the low cabinets which he is known to have restored and altered for its subsequent owner the maréchal de Choiseul-Stainville (sold from Houghton Hall at Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 80). The distinctive flower-filled upper frieze, for its part, is a leitmotif in Leleu’s oeuvre and closely resembles the one visible on a desk supplied in 1773 by Leleu to the prince de Condé for the Palais de Bourbon, described in a bill of 24 May 1773 as having 'dans la frise un entrelas et rosaces nuancés' (see A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p. 340), sold at Sotheby’s, Monaco, 9 December 1984, lot 1054. It also appears with minor variations on a secrétaire in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 508, fig. A, and a secrétaire inlaid with the cypher 'M', sold Christie's Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 34. Only a few meubles d’appui by Leleu have survived, such as two smaller bibliothèque basses with glazed doors and similar cut-cornered panelled sides, one sold from the Alexander collection, Christie’s, New York, 30 April 1999, the other sold from the collection of Monsieur René Smadja, 19 December 2007, lot 727 (112,800 euros); similar panels with rosettes are also displayed on a pair of low cabinets now in the Musée de Nissim de Camondo (illustrated in S. Legrand-Rossi, Le Mobilier du Musée Nissim de Camondo, Dijon, 2012, pp. 3, 88-9).