ASSEMBLED, LATE 18TH/FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY, INCORPORATING LOUIS XIV ELEMENTS

The tradition of incorporating original Boulle panels into later furniture began almost as soon as the famous cabinet-maker André-Charles Boulle had died in 1732. Since the end of the 17th Century, this type of inlaid furniture has almost constantly been sought after. It is possible this striking cabinet was assembled during the Louis XVI by one of the ébénistes who specialised in Boulle furniture such as Etienne Levasseur (maître in 1766). An almost identical pair of cabinets was exhibited at Partridge Fine Arts Ltd., Summer Exhibition 1974, no. 17, with identical Mercury and Apollo mount to the pedestal section. The Partridge pair belonged formerly to the Lords Hastings and were at both Seaton Delaval, Northumberland and Melton Constable, Norfolk. Although unstamped, this latter pair was attributed to Etienne Levasseur on account of the ormolu masks being of different dates, a feature of many stamped Levasseur pieces. Related designs of scrolling foliage and Arcadian-deity masks feature in Oeuvre de Jean Berain, recueillies par les soins du sieur Thuret, Paris, 1711 and also in Daniel Marot's influential Nouveaux Livre d'Ornement.

Levasseur was one of the foremost cabinet-makers of his time. He was trained with the sons of André-Charles Boulle and was maître in 1766. Levasseur specialised in copying and repairing Boulle furniture and his stamp appears on many Louis XIV pieces, including many in English country house collections.

The winged-mask mount between the doors is also found on a Louis XIV Boulle cabinet sold from a Private Collection, Sotheby's New York, 12 November 1999, lot 286 ($464,500).