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A LOUIS XVI GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND ACAJOU MOUCHETÉ BUREAU PLAT, LATE 18TH CENTURY AND LATER
Lot Closed
May 20, 01:01 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A LOUIS XVI GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND ACAJOU MOUCHETÉ BUREAU PLAT, LATE 18TH CENTURY AND LATER
the gilt-bronze-banded top inset with tooled leather writing surface, the shaped and panelled frieze with one central and two side drawers with laurel wreath handles, and panelled with simulated drawers to the reverse, the sides mounted with a stylised patera on four squared tapering fluted supports, capped with acanthus mouldings and terminating gilt-bronze foliate cast feet, stamped front left corner J.H. RIESENER and JME, top probably later and alterations to construction of legs
78cm. high, 130cm. wide, 80cm. deep; 2ft. 6¾in., 4ft. 3¼in., 2ft. 7½in.
Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
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Loel (1906-1988) and Gloria Guinness (1912-1980), Paris;
Sold Sotheby's, Collections, 30 April 2015, lot 1007 (Property of the Guinness Trusts and Collections)
This impressive bureau plat was acquired by Loel and Gloria Guinness for their extraordinary Parisian apartment at 18 avenue Matignon, which was decorated by the celebrated interior designer Georges Geffroy in the mid-1950s.
This bureau plat is an example of ‘le goût Anglais’ which swept through French cabinet making of the period, influencing makers such as Weisweiler, Canabas, Pierre Garnier and of course, Riesener. Here we see it manifested in his employment of acajou moucheté as the principal timber - or 'plum-pudding' mahogany to use the English term - which, together with the understated arrangement of gilt-bronze mounts and simple mouldings used outline the architectural qualities of the design.
A related example by Riesener can be found in the collection of the Musée Nissim de Camondo (illustrated Sylvie Legrand-Rossi, Le Mobilier du Musée Nissim de Camondo, Dijon, 2012, p. 114).