A gilt-bronze mounted kingwood, amaranth and tulipwood bureau plat in the manner of Pierre Montigny and René Dubois, late 18th/early 19th century

the green leather-lined top above a pair of fielded frieze drawers inlaid with Greek key, the sides with leather-lined slides, the reverse with dummy drawers on fluted square tapering legs headed by crossbanded floral panels and berried swags with brass caps and castors, one sabot and castor detached, with a label to the underside Brynkinalt RM

Most probably purchased by Arthur Hill-Trevor, 3^rd Viscount Dungannon (1798 – 1862) for 3, Grafton Street, London;
Moved to Brynkinalt Hall, Denbighshire following his death and thence by descent.

Related Literature:
Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974

Overall in reasonable condition. The frieze to the reverse has some sun damage and dryness which may benefit from some light workshop attention. The crossbanding to the front has some minor losses and crackling. The inset leather top has some customary damage and age cracking, the leather inset tops of the slides have signs of damage and some staining. The colour to the drawer fronts is very good. With some old marks and scratches commensurate with age and use.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This extremely elegant bureau plat, with its distinguished, restrained lines and interlaced Greek-key frieze, reflects the goût grec so typical of the taste for understated neoclassicism of the 1760s and 1770s. The goût grec was introduced in the 1750s by the architect Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain. Probably working in collaboration with a marchand-mercier such as Simon-Philippe Poirier, Le Lorrain's style was first realized in the designs for the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the Parisian hotel of the amateur Ange-Laurent de Lalive de Jully circa 1755, which included the bureau plat and cartonnier now in the musée Condé at Chantilly. Within a few years, this bold manner had gained wide popularity, and in 1763 Baron de Grimm was writing in Paris: 'tout se fait aujourd'hui à la grècque' (ibid., p. 264).

This bureau plat relates to the well documented group of ‘bureaux à la grecque’ by both Phillipe Montigny (1734 – 1800) and René Dubois. Executed in either amaranth or tulipwood, often displaying the same distinctive rosette and grotesque mounts and always of a similar and design and scale, this group reflects the close collaboration between these two ébénistes. A link further underlined by the fact that Montingy and Dubois were not only cousins, but that the former even acted as witness to Dubois’ wedding in 1772. Their combined stamp can be found on pieces in the Wallace collection and in the collection of the Rothschilds' at Waddesdon. In view of the fact that ‘une table de bois d’amaranthe à la grecque’ was recorded in the inventory taken following the death of Jacques Dubois in 1763 whilst Montigny was not elected maître until 1766, is seems probable that Dubois devised the model and because of its popularity and subsequent demand subcontracted Montigny to supply him with bureaux of this form.

The English taste for the French goût grec was rampant towards the end of the 18^th century and into the Regency period. Great collectors such as Thomas Hope (1769 - 1831) and Sir William Hamilton (1730 – 1803), returning from their respective grand tours, looked to the ébénistes of Paris to inspire their neoclassical vision in England. The taste that these two men were to become apogees of filtered into the highest Royal and aristocratic circles quickly becoming the vanguard of English taste. This famous model by Montigny was particularly favoured by English collectors. An almost identical version in the collection of the Dukes of Richmond at Goodwood, West Sussex shares the same grotesque escutcheons as the present lot. A further bureau is known to have been delivered to the Earls of Coventry by Poirier and is stamped Dubois. The present whereabouts of the bureau are unknown; however, a photograph taken in the 1880s illustrates it in the tapestry room at Croome Court, detailing how close it is to the present lot (Eriksen, op. cit., p. 315, pl. 100). The closest bureau to the present lot with only the pattern of the Greek key differentiating the two was sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 4 March 1984, lot 482 (fig. 1). The Monaco bureau plat is stamped Dubois. Further to this the 1^st Duke of Northumberland commissioned a suite of furniture from William and John Linnell very much in the manner of Montigny the mounts and form of the table bears all the hall marks of the original French design. It is clear therefore that the influence of French neoclassicism was not only imported into England but that it was adopted by both English and émigré cabinet-makers working in London.