Lot n° 450
Estimation :
80000 - 100000
EUR
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Violet wood and amaranth veneered sloping desk with inlaid d - Lot 450
Violet wood and amaranth veneered sloping desk with inlaid decoration on all sides of asymmetrical flower sprays in interlaced cartouches. The flap, trimmed with leather and decorated with a foliage frieze, reveals a niche and three drawers, one of which holds an inkwell. The waistband is decorated with floral scrolls. The unit stands on four curved legs. Rich ormolu ornamentation such as foliate fillets, florets, key escutcheons, corner falls and sabots.
Louis XV period, circa 1750, attributed to Bernard II Van
Riesenburgh
H. 86 cm x W. 82 cm x D. 45 cm
Provenance: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
- Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 24, 1922 (Lot 118)
- Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris, June 9 and 10, 1976 (Lot 215)
- Collection of Jean Rossignol
This sloping desk is typical of the work of Bernard II Van Riesenburgh, who was awarded the title of Master in 1730, while working as a furniture supplier to the Crown. Favoring the use of exotic woods, the cabinetmaker emphasized their aesthetic qualities by creating delicate, contrasting inlays with bold motifs. BVRB II produced a number of high quality desks, making this one of his specialties, such as the one supplied in 1745 for the Dauphine's Versailles apartment by the marchand-mercier
Thomas-Joachim Hebert.
BVRB II was responsible for the revival of floral decoration in marquetry, a taste that had lost popularity during the
Regency period. In 1745, the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert delivered to the Garde-meuble de la Couronne the first pieces of furniture decorated with floral marquetry by Bernard II Van Riesenburgh for the
Dauphin and the Dauphine at Versailles. These pieces of furniture are decorated with sprays of flowers in violet wood, satinwood and, later, on a tulipwood background, as on the sloping desk shown here.
Hébert's delivery to the Garde-Meuble, dated February 18, 1745 for the Dauphine in Versailles, included a sloping desk of closely related form and decoration (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes
Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, 1989, p. 192. fig. 179).
Also stamped by BVRB and supplied for Madame la Dauphine's retiring cabinet, it was first described in the
Journal du Garde-Meuble on January 23, 1745 with a description similar to our lot: "No.1344 -Un secrétaire de bois satin fleur de bois violet dans des compartiments de bois d'amarante, enrichi d'ornements, moulures, cartouches, encoignures, et pieds de bronze dor d'ormoulu.
The front flaps down to form a table covered in blue velvet, which rests on two amaranth-wood drawers with gilded knobs. Inside are six drawers, two large and four small, in one of which is a right-hand inkwell, compact and a silver copper pongee box, lined with blue carpet and edged with a small gold braid. 31 inches long by 18 inches deep and inches high."
Several pieces of furniture stamped with BVRB II were auctioned, such as a lady's desk from the Seligmann and Polès collections, sold in
Paris on November 6, 1991 (lot 35) at Me Binoche et Godeau; a double BVRB-stamped sloping desk from the collection of
Martin Alexander et Segoura, sold at Christie's New York on October 19, 2006 (lot 237) and a sloping desk attributed to BVRB from the Collection de Monsieur Rene Smadja, sold at Christie's Paris on December 19, 2007 (lot 725).
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