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Lot 1080* - A206 Decorative Arts - Thursday, 21. September 2023, 10.00 AM
PAIR OF HALF-HEIGHT CABINETS
Provenance: French private collection.
A pair of half-height cabinets of the same type are part of the collections in the Musée du Château de Versailles (inv. no. VMB 1053; VMB 1069). Those pieces of furniture were purchased around 1835 by King Louis-Philippe from the Parisian dealer Noel Picot for the Versailles Chateau. They were later moved to the Bibliothèque Mazarine, where they have stood since 1932. One of the two sideboards is illustrated in Seymour de Ricci, Louis XIV and Régence - Raumkunst und Mobiliar, Stuttgart, 1929, p. 184, described as "Versailles, two-door wall commode."
The inventory of the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon dates the two sideboards in the Bibliothèque Mazarine to the 19th century. Like the cabinets on offer, they were probably made using older elements. The bronze ornamentation is clearly inspired by the work of Charles Crésson and even more by André-Charles Boulle. Thus, the two characteristic and distinctive corner profile fittings are also found on a three-drawer commode made of violet wood veneer by André-Charles Boulle in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. no. 1083:1to7-1882). The fittings each have a split double hoof at the base, a single flower on an openwork scroll at the top, and a floral and scroll design along their length.
Nearly identical half cupboards, but with slightly different details in the bronze decoration or veneer pattern, have appeared at auctions in France in recent years: A 'Commode à portes' at Sotheby's Monaco, March 4, 1989, lot 195, described there as "en partie d'époque Louis XIV"; a "Meuble à deux portes" at Baron-Ribeyre, Hôtel Drouot Paris, March 29, 2000, lot 113, which was dated to the 19th century; and a "buffet à hauteur d'appui" at Pailly-Pommery et Voutier, Hôtel Drouot Paris, April 4. April 2006, lot 349, described as Napoléon III. The Sotheby's Monaco catalog entry also refers to the furniture in the Bibliothèque Mazarine and suggests that Parisian dealer Noel Picot, apparently also a manufacturer, produced a larger series of these, some modified in details, from an old piece of furniture.
Comparative literature:
- Williamson, Les Meubles d'art du Mobilier national, vol. I, fig. 30.
- Daniel Meyer, "Le Mobilier de Versailles, les choix de Louis-Philippe ", in: L'Estampille-L'Objet d'art, 1993, No. 272, p. 69.
CHF 25 000 / 35 000 | (€ 25 770 / 36 080)
Sold for CHF 30 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.