拍品 209
209
The Property of the late R. N. S. Clarke, Esq., Sold by Order of the Executors
A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED FRUITWOOD AND EBONY MARQUETRY COMMODE with rounded moulded rectangular top inlaid with an overflowing still-life of flowers in a vase, resting upon a pedestal supported by a grotesque mask, flanked by merry-making figures and vigorously scrolling acanthus, cornucopiae, butterflies and birds, above two short and two long walnut-lined drawers simulated as three drawers, similarly inlaid with scrolling foliage between rounded angles with trailing foliage, the side panels with a still-life of flowers in a vase flanked by a pair of birds, above a shaped apron and bracket feet, the top and base associated and the top probably originally from a bureau mazarin, the carcass extensively restored and adapated with extended back and with later back feet, losses, with pencil inscription 8-74/Stevens/lot 74/1 Heof, on the underside of top right-hand drawer

细节
A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED FRUITWOOD AND EBONY MARQUETRY COMMODE with rounded moulded rectangular top inlaid with an overflowing still-life of flowers in a vase, resting upon a pedestal supported by a grotesque mask, flanked by merry-making figures and vigorously scrolling acanthus, cornucopiae, butterflies and birds, above two short and two long walnut-lined drawers simulated as three drawers, similarly inlaid with scrolling foliage between rounded angles with trailing foliage, the side panels with a still-life of flowers in a vase flanked by a pair of birds, above a shaped apron and bracket feet, the top and base associated and the top probably originally from a bureau mazarin, the carcass extensively restored and adapated with extended back and with later back feet, losses, with pencil inscription 8-74/Stevens/lot 74/1 Heof, on the underside of top right-hand drawer
48in. (122cm.) wide; 32¾in. (83.5cm.) high; 27in. (68.5cm.) deep

拍品专文

This chest's brass-bound ebony slab from a dressing-table is richly inlaid with colourful woods depicting trompe l'oeil birds and butterflies accompanying a festive pedestal-supported flower-vase. An oak-wreathed satyr-mask appears on the acanthus-enriched pedestal, which is supported by fabulous 'arabesque' griffins which emerge from flowered acanthus-scrolls and gaze towards serpent-entwined and flower-filled cornucopiae recalling 'ancient virtu'. The Roman foliage also supports figures in a miniature chinoiserie manner, comprising festive Dutch peasants, one with tankard and beer glass and his companion bearing a fruit-basket, emblematic of the sense of taste. The flower-vase relates to decorative over-door paintings in the manner of Jean-Baptiste Mounoyer (d.1699) as illustrated in Daniel Marot's Nouveaux Livre de Tableaux de Portes et Cheminées circa 1700, while the arabesques derive from foliate friezes in the 'Roman manner' engraved by Jean Le Pautre in the 1650s.

A related slab, incorporating Indian figures, is illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, vol.II, Milan, 1986, fig.51.

Both stylistically and in terms of quality, this slab is close to the uevre of Pierre Gole (d.1684) who was appointed maître menuisier en ébène ordinaire du roi in the mid-1650's, (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Tours, 1989, pp.45-51).