ID 1329887
Lot 16 | COMMODE EN TAMBOUR D'ÉPOQUE LOUIS XIV
Valeur estimée
€ 200 000 – 400 000
ATTRIBUÉE À ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE ET À BOULLE FILS, VERS 1720
En marqueterie Boulle de première partie d'écaille de tortue imbriquée et filets de laiton, placage d'amarante et d'ébène et ornementation de bronze ciselé et doré, le plateau en marbre rance de Belgique, la façade ouvrant par trois tiroirs à traverse à décor d'entrelacs et rinceaux feuillagés, les montants en colonnes fuselées, détachées et simulant des cannelures, le tablier centré d'un masque d'Appolon, sur six pieds dont deux en toupies ; certains bronzes associés
H. 84 cm. (33 in.) ; L. 121 cm. (47q in.) ; P. 51 cm. (20 in.)
Provenance
Ancienne collection du Earl of Rosebery, sa vente, Sotheby's Londres, 17 avril 1964, lot 27.
Galerie Aveline, Paris, 1998.
Collection privée.
Literature
A. Pradère, Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 74
Bibliographie comparative :
A. Pradère, Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 105
Cat. exp. J.R. Ronfort, André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), un nouveau style pour l’Europe, Francfort, 2009, p. 320
Further details
A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL, BRASS INLAID AND EBONY BOULLE MARQUTERY COMMODE, ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE AND BOULLE'S SONS, CIRCA 1720
The “tambour” chest of drawers: the invention of André Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
André-Charles Boulle is credited with inventing certain types of furniture, such as the flat desk, but also the commode, which came into being at the very beginning of the 18th century. The variety of commode models created by Boulle, of which ours is one, is surprisingly inventive: a model with a faun's head, in the shape of an “arch”, follows another adorned with lions' heads, or a commode with a caduceus, concealing a medallion. Ours, baptized “ en tambour, par les deux bouts ”, is one of the first commode models designed by the cabinetmaker, whose shape derives from eight-foot desks. With its six legs, it actually illustrates an intermediate phase between the eight-legged piece and the lighter, four-legged chest of drawers. The expression “ en tambour, par les deux bouts ‘, as well as that of ’ commode ovalle ”, reflects the rounding of its ends. Although this model dates from the 1715s, Boulle's book of engravings, Nouveaux desseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie, from 1708, attests that it was directly inspired by projects or creations he himself had designed earlier, even before the first decade of the 18th century.
A chest of drawers of this model appears in André-Charles Boulle's deed of abandonment, i.e. the deed of gift to his sons in 1715: “ une commode de quatre pieds de long en tambour, par les deux bouts, ayant deux tiroirs sans dessus plaquée et poli, les bronzes et les serrures restant à faire et commandée par m. de La Croix, 350 l. The counterpart of said commode in the same condition 300l. ” The latter was ordered by the financier de La Croix, who owned four of them. However, it has only two drawers, whereas ours has a third.
A three-drawer pair like ours, from the Duke of Hamilton's collection, is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part one and counterpart, dated circa 1715, including some later elements.
This model is so emblematic of the work of André-Charles Boulle that it was copied right up to the end of the 19th century by the greatest cabinetmakers of the period, such as Louis-Auguste Alfred Beurdeley, the probable author of the copy of this pair in the Wallace Collection, made around 1850 (F404 and F403).
Bronze decoration and ornamentation characteristic of the cabinetmaker, continued by his sons
This commode features some of the bronze and marquetry motifs common to other Boulle models, characteristic of the cabinetmaker. The spray of acanthus leaves forming a handle on the top drawer and the rooster-head escutcheons can be found on the pair of commodes known as Mazarines, delivered to King Louis XIV at Trianon in 1708. Similarly, the radiating half-palmettes on the sides can be found on a large domed cabinet, circa 1700, which was part of the Grimod de la Reynière sale in 1797, and later of the Cheremetiev collection, now in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. This commode's two handle models and spiral legs were also frequently used, notably on six-legged console tables.
The marquetry panels are also characteristic of André-Charles Boulle's work. Inspired by the ornamental engravings of Jean-Philippe Boulle, the cabinetmaker's eldest son, a similar inlaid decoration can be found on a rectangular table by André-Charles Boulle, known as a brandon table, circa 1701, in the Bowhill House collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. Boulle's sons played a major role in the workshop, participating directly in the design of the models, even if they were not the creators. Similarly, panels of leafy interlacing marquetry similar to those on the sides of this desk appear on the right-hand rear panel of the desk in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 37. 160. 7), from the former Ogden Mills collection and its counterpart sold at Christie's mentioned above.
More broadly, this chest of drawers illustrates the many innovations that André-Charles Boulle was able to develop in all areas of cabinetmaking, and which were taken up by his sons. His status as the King's cabinetmaker and his royal privilege allowed him to escape the rules of the guilds, enabling Boulle to achieve what his predecessors had never managed: the simultaneous use of wood, brass and tortoiseshell, enhanced by gilded bronzes. Their juxtaposition required new technical solutions, such as the interposition of thin sheets of white linen paper to preserve the impact of the colors, colored fillers and appropriate binders, special work on the reverse side of the surfaces to facilitate adhesion, or the chemical treatment of brass with acid. Although he was not the initiator, Boulle brought brass and tortoiseshell marquetry to such a degree of perfection that it took his name.
In 1715, the year of Louis XIV's death, Boulle, aged seventy-three, donated his business and all his possessions to his four sons, who worked with him in his workshop and supplied him with ornamental models. At his death in 1732, his after-death inventory attests that he had kept in his possession what remained, after the fire of 1720, of his collection of drawings and prints, and above all most of his gilded bronze models, which his sons used in their productions.
A prestigious provenance
The listed commodes of this model were acquired by major 18th-century collectors: the financier Claude-François De La Croix had four in his rue Saint-Antoine mansion, including two with two drawers and two with three drawers, like ours.
Similarly, at the end of the 18th century, Louis-Antoine Crozat, Baron de Thiers, owned a similar one, while a comparable commode appears in the Rohan-Chabot collection sale of December 10, 1787, no. 317, sold at Sotheby's in Paris on November 5, 2015, lot 305.
In fact, a chest of drawers described in Michel Lambert's sale of March 27, 1787, no. 301, corresponds exactly to ours: « Une commode à trois tiroirs, en marqueterie, première partie, & à fond d’écaille. Le premier tiroir est orné d’une poignée à rinceaux d’ornemens & entrées de serrure à têtes de coqs ; sur le second, sont deux poignées et rosaces ; le troisième enrichi d’un fort masque de femme à une seule poignée ; les deux côtés en forme de tour, sont couronnés d’une moulure d’ove, au-dessous de laquelle de forts rinceaux d’ornemens couronnent encore une gaine en avant. Ce meuble soutenu sur quatre boules de bois, garnies en bronze, sur deux sabots en vis de bronze doré, & couvert d’un beau marbre, réunit à la belle exécution une forme aussi agréable que rare à rencontrer. Hauteur 33 pouces, largeur 46 pouces, saillie 18 pouces »
At the beginning of the 20th century, a chest of drawers of the same model in ebony veneer was acquired by Madame la Marquise de Ganay and sold as part of her collection on May 8-10, 1922, lot 255. Finally, another chest of drawers of this model belonged to the Brownlow family collection at Berlton House, Grantham, sold at Christie's in London on March 13, 1929, lot 83, then, almost a century later, at Sotheby's in Paris on June 16, 2020.
Whether it corresponds to one of the chests of drawers of the famous 18th century financier Claude-François De La Croix, or to one in the collection of Michel Lambert, our chest of drawers, sold at Sotheby's in London on April 17, 1964, lot 27, is certainly, by virtue of the rarity of its model and the quality of its execution, the object of a prestigious commission.
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| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
Votre ordre: € 200 000
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| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
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| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
Вы уже сделали ставку в € 40 000 и ставка принята аукционным домом. Если вы хотите ее уменьшить, то обратитесь напрямую в администрацию аукционного дома.
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| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
Вы не можете делать ставки в данном АД, т.к. были внесены в черный список.
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| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
Autobid est prêt
| Numéro de lot | 16 |
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| Maison de vente aux enchères | CHRISTIE'S |
| Date de l'enchère | 20.11.2024 |
