Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Premium BONHAMS
35
-
35. 35W Y An important and rare Louis XIV commode by Nicolas…
35
-
35. 35W Y An important and rare Louis XIV commode by Nicolas…
Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
Voluntary lot
Description
35. 35W Y An important and rare Louis XIV commode by Nicolas Sageot in ebonized wood, red tortoiseshell veneer, brass and tin veneer
Of rectangular shape presents a slightly curved façade, decorated in partie and contre-partie with foliage scrolls and cartouches containing lambrequins. It opens to four drawers with curved side angles and the two sides with large geometric cartouches. The top follows the same decoration and presents in the centre the figure of a female painter under a canopy facing her easel and framed by playful monkeys and putti, scalloped cartouches with croisillons and scrolls.
Rich ornamentation of regilt and chiselled bronzes, such as drawer handles, keyholes, mascarons and foliage friezes, some of them later.
Stamped N. SAGEOT, 120cm wide, 62cm deep, 86cm high (47in wide, 24in deep, 33 1/2in high).
The Société de Régulations stipulated in 1743 that every piece of furniture made in Paris had to be stamped with the name of the ebeniste. Prior to this date, very few furniture pieces presented a stamp, which made quite difficult to attribute them to a maître. Some of them occasionally stamped their creations before this date, of which the present commode is an example.
Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731) was named master ebeniste in Paris in 1706. His production follows the tradition of marquetry work on copper and tortoiseshell illustrated by André-Charles Boulle and inspired by a decoration of arabesques and figures by Jean Bérain.
The "Boulle" marquetry is a technique consisting on cutting on overlaid layers of brass and tortoiseshell. This marquetry technique consists of a première partie of tortoiseshell decoration and a contre-partie made up of a metal, usually brass or tin. The tortoiseshell, naturally brown, is overlaid with a tinted layer to give this red colour.
Nicolas Sageot had a rich and varied production including commodes, bureau dit Mazarin, bibliotheques and the present lot belongs to a rare type of commode in his production, on account of the unusual four-drawer construction.
Literature
P. Grand, « Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque », in L'Estampille l'Objet d'Art, n. 266, février 1993, pp. 48-70.
Comparative Literature
C. Demestrescu, Les ébénistes de la Couronne sous le règne de Louis XIV, Lausanne, 2021, p. 287.
P. Grand, 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque', L'Estampille/ L'Objet d'Art, February, 1993, pp. 48-70.
Seymour de Ricci, Louis XIV and Régence, Germany,1929, plates 125, 127,129.
Jean Néré Ronfort, André Charles Boulle,1642-1732, Un nouveau style pour l'Europe, Paris, 2009, p.170, fig. 5 and pp. 294-295, fig. 45.
Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque, L'Estampille / Objet d'art, février 1993, p. 50.
Pierre Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle, Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 1989, pp. 767-768.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like