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Lot Essay
With its mixture of Chinese cororomandel laquer and bois de bout marquetry interior, this elegant bureau en pente relates closely to Bernard II van Risenburgh’s (BVRB) documented oeuvre. It is typical of the sophisticated lacquer furniture of the late 1740s and early 1750s which BVRB conceived in collaboration with the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux. This smaller, more feminine model was part of the new range of luxurious, small-scale items of furniture developed for petits appartements or small cabinets de retraite, usually the domain of a lady of high rank and extremely luxuriously decorated.
Few works either by or attributed to BVRB incorporating Chinese coromandel lacquer are known to exist which can be explained by its inherent fragility, making it incredibly hard to manipulate. Though coromandel lacquer is recorded in the stocks of the Parisian marchands merciers, it is often linked with the mention that it is damaged. In 1755, the marchand Simon de la Hoguette records forty pieces of coromandel lacquer as endommagées and Duveaux, the marchand who frequently worked with BVRB mentions four such panels in 1758 (T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XXXIII Siècle, Paris, 2000, p.55).
One of the earliest examples with coromandel lacquer is a commode circa 1730 attributed to BVRB and supplied to the duc and duchesse du Maine for the château de Sceaux (2005.14.1) and sold from the collection of Jean Rossingnol; Art Curial, Paris, 13 December 2005, lot 119 (€1,272,327). It is first mentioned in the inventory of the ‘Cabinet du Chine’ after the death of the duc du Maine in 1736 and again after the duchesse’s death in 1753. At that time additional ‘Chinese’ furnishings were mentioned, including ‘fond d’or à figures chinoises’ and ‘un table à ecrire de bois verni de la chine.’ As with many of their aristocratic contemporaries, the duc and duchesse de Maine had clearly embraced the hugely fashionable taste for the Orient which was a result of the vast array of luxurious objects created by the marchands merciers. The furniture at this time would include Japanese or Chinese lacquer or the French equivalent, known as vernis martin, with only a scant few known to incorporate coromandel lacquer. This scarcity is reflected in records of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, BVRB’s principal supplier, which in an almost five year period between November 1748 and August 1753 only eight further commodes and five encoignures incorporating coromandel lacquer are recorded (Ibid. p.186). This group may include a commode by BVRB from the Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1974.356.189) as well a pair of encoignures in the Wrightsman collection (1983.185.2).
Several related examples of bureaux en pente incorporating Japanese lacquer panels either by or attributed to BVRB exist and are among some of the richest, most refined works in his oeuvre. Interestingly, two examples, one sold from French and Company; Christie’s, New York, 24 November 1998, lot 20 and one sold from Segoura, Christie’s, New York, 9 October 2006, lot 237 share the same bois de bout marquetry interior with a distinctive spring-loaded activation mechanism operated by a screwhead. Other examples are one sold from the Collection of Djahanguir Riahi, Christies, London 6 December 2012, lot 20 (£2,057,250) and another sold at Beaussant-Lefèvre, Paris, 24 November 1995, lot 177 and another in the James A. De Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (W112612).
Few works either by or attributed to BVRB incorporating Chinese coromandel lacquer are known to exist which can be explained by its inherent fragility, making it incredibly hard to manipulate. Though coromandel lacquer is recorded in the stocks of the Parisian marchands merciers, it is often linked with the mention that it is damaged. In 1755, the marchand Simon de la Hoguette records forty pieces of coromandel lacquer as endommagées and Duveaux, the marchand who frequently worked with BVRB mentions four such panels in 1758 (T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XXXIII Siècle, Paris, 2000, p.55).
One of the earliest examples with coromandel lacquer is a commode circa 1730 attributed to BVRB and supplied to the duc and duchesse du Maine for the château de Sceaux (2005.14.1) and sold from the collection of Jean Rossingnol; Art Curial, Paris, 13 December 2005, lot 119 (€1,272,327). It is first mentioned in the inventory of the ‘Cabinet du Chine’ after the death of the duc du Maine in 1736 and again after the duchesse’s death in 1753. At that time additional ‘Chinese’ furnishings were mentioned, including ‘fond d’or à figures chinoises’ and ‘un table à ecrire de bois verni de la chine.’ As with many of their aristocratic contemporaries, the duc and duchesse de Maine had clearly embraced the hugely fashionable taste for the Orient which was a result of the vast array of luxurious objects created by the marchands merciers. The furniture at this time would include Japanese or Chinese lacquer or the French equivalent, known as vernis martin, with only a scant few known to incorporate coromandel lacquer. This scarcity is reflected in records of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, BVRB’s principal supplier, which in an almost five year period between November 1748 and August 1753 only eight further commodes and five encoignures incorporating coromandel lacquer are recorded (Ibid. p.186). This group may include a commode by BVRB from the Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1974.356.189) as well a pair of encoignures in the Wrightsman collection (1983.185.2).
Several related examples of bureaux en pente incorporating Japanese lacquer panels either by or attributed to BVRB exist and are among some of the richest, most refined works in his oeuvre. Interestingly, two examples, one sold from French and Company; Christie’s, New York, 24 November 1998, lot 20 and one sold from Segoura, Christie’s, New York, 9 October 2006, lot 237 share the same bois de bout marquetry interior with a distinctive spring-loaded activation mechanism operated by a screwhead. Other examples are one sold from the Collection of Djahanguir Riahi, Christies, London 6 December 2012, lot 20 (£2,057,250) and another sold at Beaussant-Lefèvre, Paris, 24 November 1995, lot 177 and another in the James A. De Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (W112612).
