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Lot Essay
Godefroy Dester, maître in 1774.
Based in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine until the 1790s, Godefroy Dester ran a notable and prosperous workshop. Dester is recorded to have supplied furniture to the Royal family. The comte d’Artois commissioned several pieces from the ébéniste, including a commode supplied in 1778 for his bedchamber in the pavilion of Bagatelle, and his masterpiece, the superb mahogany commode fitted with porcelain plaques depicting floral bouquets, and adorned with rich gilt-bronze mounts modeled as caryatids and scrolls, delivered in 1785 for his bedchamber at the palais du Temple, sold Christie’s, London, 17 June 1987, lot 70.
In addition to the more conventional marquetry furniture, Dester’s oeuvre also comprised a small number of beautifully-veneered commodes, secrétaires and cartonniers, which demonstrate the particular care he took in choosing the most exotic veneers. The use of veneers such as flamed, plum-pudding or other lustrous types of mahogany, set against finely-chased gilt bronze mounts, allow us to relate Dester's production to that of Adam Weisweiler or Guillaume Beneman. A number of commodes à vantaux of this model by Dester include: a pair from the collection of Monsieur Lindon, sold Sotheby's, London, 26 June 1964, lot 128; another pair from the Vergottis collection, sold Sotheby's, London, 14 June 2000, lot 236; a single commode, see Sotheby's, New York, 18 May 1996, lot 395; one sold most recently Christie's, London, 19 May 2021, lot 26; and one illustrated in J. Nicolay, L’art et la Manière des Maîtres ébénistes, Paris, 1956, p. 148, fig. D. Comparable commodes of this model by fellow leading cabinetmakers include: a commode by Saunier in the château de Fontainebleau; a commode stamped by Beneman, from the Max Reich collection, sold in London, 14 October 1960, lot 186; and one by Weisweiler, sold Tajan, Paris, 9 December 1996, lot 122.
The crowned initials ABM and CR found on this lot stand for Bertam Mitford (1837-1916) and his wife, Clementine Gertrude Helen Ogilvy (1954-1932). Born into a landed gentry family and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, Mitford was a British diplomat, collector and writer. He spent the years between 1858 and 1873 working in Russia, China and Japan, where, in 1871, he wrote his most notable work entitled "Tales of Old Japan." He was considered a Japanophile and even W. S. Gilbert consulted him when he worked with Althur Sullivan on their popular operetta, The Mikado, in 1885. Mitford married Clementine, daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie, in 1874 and they had two five sons and four daughters. His son and primary heir David, married the daughter of Vanity Fair founder Thomas Gibson Bowles and was the father of the Mitford sisters. Mitford was raised to the peerage as Baron Redesdale, of Redesdale in the county of Northumberland in 1902.
Based in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine until the 1790s, Godefroy Dester ran a notable and prosperous workshop. Dester is recorded to have supplied furniture to the Royal family. The comte d’Artois commissioned several pieces from the ébéniste, including a commode supplied in 1778 for his bedchamber in the pavilion of Bagatelle, and his masterpiece, the superb mahogany commode fitted with porcelain plaques depicting floral bouquets, and adorned with rich gilt-bronze mounts modeled as caryatids and scrolls, delivered in 1785 for his bedchamber at the palais du Temple, sold Christie’s, London, 17 June 1987, lot 70.
In addition to the more conventional marquetry furniture, Dester’s oeuvre also comprised a small number of beautifully-veneered commodes, secrétaires and cartonniers, which demonstrate the particular care he took in choosing the most exotic veneers. The use of veneers such as flamed, plum-pudding or other lustrous types of mahogany, set against finely-chased gilt bronze mounts, allow us to relate Dester's production to that of Adam Weisweiler or Guillaume Beneman. A number of commodes à vantaux of this model by Dester include: a pair from the collection of Monsieur Lindon, sold Sotheby's, London, 26 June 1964, lot 128; another pair from the Vergottis collection, sold Sotheby's, London, 14 June 2000, lot 236; a single commode, see Sotheby's, New York, 18 May 1996, lot 395; one sold most recently Christie's, London, 19 May 2021, lot 26; and one illustrated in J. Nicolay, L’art et la Manière des Maîtres ébénistes, Paris, 1956, p. 148, fig. D. Comparable commodes of this model by fellow leading cabinetmakers include: a commode by Saunier in the château de Fontainebleau; a commode stamped by Beneman, from the Max Reich collection, sold in London, 14 October 1960, lot 186; and one by Weisweiler, sold Tajan, Paris, 9 December 1996, lot 122.
The crowned initials ABM and CR found on this lot stand for Bertam Mitford (1837-1916) and his wife, Clementine Gertrude Helen Ogilvy (1954-1932). Born into a landed gentry family and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, Mitford was a British diplomat, collector and writer. He spent the years between 1858 and 1873 working in Russia, China and Japan, where, in 1871, he wrote his most notable work entitled "Tales of Old Japan." He was considered a Japanophile and even W. S. Gilbert consulted him when he worked with Althur Sullivan on their popular operetta, The Mikado, in 1885. Mitford married Clementine, daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie, in 1874 and they had two five sons and four daughters. His son and primary heir David, married the daughter of Vanity Fair founder Thomas Gibson Bowles and was the father of the Mitford sisters. Mitford was raised to the peerage as Baron Redesdale, of Redesdale in the county of Northumberland in 1902.