Master Art

The rectangular top centrally inlaid with a figure beneath a baldequin surrounded by strapwork, scrolls and Berainesque designs including frolicking figures, birds, and baskets of flowers, over a central frieze drawer and cupboard door with kneehole, flanked by two ranges of three drawers all similarly inlaid with foliate strapwork, the sides with foliate strapwork panels, with scrolled and inlaid angles, on four scrolled and inlaid legs, on tapering bun feet.

The overall form and design of the marquetry panels on this bureau is closely related to a bureau mazarin, stamped by Nicolas Sageot, in the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

Nicolas Sageot, son of a wine grower, was born in 1666. His atelier was probably active from 1690, though the first records date from 1698 when he employed two workers. Sageot worked until 1706 as an ouvrier libre, before his appointment as maître in 1706, and was based in the faubourg Saint-Antoine. He evidently rapidly expanded his business, as by 1711 he had 12,000 livres, almost all in stock-in-trade. Retiring on 26 July 1720 he sold 16,000 livres worth of furniture, all of which was decorated with brass and tortoiseshell marquetry.