Lot Essay
This bureau-bookcase is embellished with elegant mahogany veneers, brass enrichments and ormolu drapery handles, and demonstrates the so-called Russian Jacob style of the 1790s. It is closely related to - and perhaps an example of - the oeuvre of the celebrated St. Petersburg cabinet-maker Christian Meyer (b. circa 1750), who was one of several German cabinet-makers based in the Russian capital. His oeuvre is related that of David Roentgen (1743-1807), who has often been regarded as his tutor. This is however highly unlikely as Meyer's family had probably already been based in Russia for generations and Meyer had been independently active as a cabinet-maker long before Roetgen's arrival in Russia. Meyer was favoured by the Imperial Court and received numerous prestigeous commissions. In the 1811 inventory of the Hermitage, 145 pieces by Meyer are listed, which had been supplied from 1787 onwards. He also gave carpentry lessons to the Grand Dukes Alexander and Constantine, grandsons of Catherine the Great. One of his most celebrated pieces is a monumental mahogany desk, mounted with characteristic drapery handles, which he supplied to the Council of the Navy in the 1790s. The present bureau-bookcase is closely related to a cylinder bureau-bookcase, attributed to Meyer, which is in an Italian private collection. (A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture, The Golden Age 1780-1840, London, 1988, pp. 83,85 and 124)
See illustration
See illustration