A Fine Pair of Encoignures
Ralph Gierhards Antiques-Fine Art
Period 18th century
Origin Paris, France
Medium Amaranth, kingwood, tulipwood, gilt-bronze mounts and Breche d’Alep marble tops
Dimension 88 x 76 x 54.5 cm (34⁵/₈ x 29⁷/₈ x 21¹/₂ inches)
Paris, circa 1770
Stamped “L. BOUDIN” and “JME” beneath the marble tops.
Léonard Boudin (Paris, 1735–1807; master in 1761).
Amaranth, kingwood, tulipwood, gilt-bronze mounts and Breche d’Alep marble tops.
Corner cabinets in the Goût grec style, each surmounted by a Breche d’Alep marble top above bold corner mounts in the form of ram’s heads with laurel wreaths, beneath which hang garlands. The doors feature opposing neoclassical vase marquetry motifs set within trelliswork. A substantial ormolu band is edged with a pattern of angular or lozenge-shaped points, above a stylised Greek key frieze. Foliate mounts with spiral motifs adorn the aprons and feet.
Pelham Galleries, London, December 1971.
In the same English private collection since that date.
Comparative works
For similar, though less pronounced, corner mounts and the use of the Greek key motif, see the late Louis XV commode with ormolu mounts in tulipwood and marquetry by Louis Moreau and Léonard Boudin, circa 1765, from the collection of the Earls of Normanton, Somerley, Hampshire, sold at Christie’s Paris, 7 June 2012, lot 305 (€121,000 including buyer’s premium).
Period: 18th century
Origin: Paris, France
Medium: Amaranth, kingwood, tulipwood, gilt-bronze mounts and Breche d’Alep marble tops
Signature: Stamped “L. BOUDIN” and “JME” beneath the marble tops
Dimension: 88 x 76 x 54.5 cm (34⁵/₈ x 29⁷/₈ x 21¹/₂ inches)
Provenance: Pelham Galleries, London, December 1971.
In the same English private collection since that date
Literature: For a commode featuring an almost identical use of diamond-shaped mounts and a stylised Greek key frieze, see:
Jean Nicolay, L’Art et la Manière des Maîtres Ébénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, pl. 18, fig. J.
Pierre Verlet, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIème Siècle, 1967, fig. 111.
P. Kjellberg, Die französischen Möbel des XVIII. Jahrhunderts, Paris, 1989, pp. 86–99.
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