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拍品专文
Bernard II van Risenburgh, maître in 1730.
This elegant bureau plat is a brilliant example of the talent of one of the most important cabinet-makers of Louis XV's reign, Bernard II van Risenburg, who elevated the rococo style to the height of refinement. His many collaborations with the most important marchands-merciers of his time, such as Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Lazare Duvaux and Simon-Philippe Poirier, enabled him to design furniture of unprecedented opulence for a wealthy clientele. Their funding enabled him to create exceptionally fine gilt-bronze mounts, characterized by the fineness of their chasing. The marchands-merciers also supplied him with precious materials such as Japanese lacquer and Sèvres porcelain, which were later incorporated into his finest creations. Although he responded to specific commissions, he developed a highly personal and recognizable style. This desk, with its sinuous lines, is one of a series of similar pieces of furniture that he began producing in the 1730s. A model similar to the present lot appears in a painting by Louis Tocqué (1698-1772) portraying the young Dauphin studying, commissioned in 1738 and now in the Louvre (inv. 8174; MR 1634). The desk depicted has the same curved foot with a bronze drop similar to the present desk, with an imposing scrolled shell, and a plain wood veneer.
The famous desk delivered in 1745 for the Dauphin's Grand Cabinet in Versailles (inv. GME 11108) by the marchand-mercier Thomas Joachim Hébert, supplier to the Court, illustrated in P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1990, vol. IV, p. 40-4, is an even more sumptuous version of the model: it has the same ornamentation framing the central drawer, as well as on the locks and side cartouches, but the bois de bout veneer, the floral marquetry and the more exuberant gilt bronzes give the desk royal splendor. BVRB revived the art of floral marquetry after 1740, and this desk was one of the first pieces of furniture supplied to the Garde-Meuble royal.
BVRB's plain wood bureaux plats with the same ornamentation are quite rare. There is a model identical to the present lot from the collection of Madame André Saint, sale in Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 20 and 21 May 1935, lot 185, illustrated in J. Nicolay, L'art et la manière des Maîtres ébénistes Français au XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1976, vol. 1, p.85, fig. C., and another from the former collection of the Duc de Richelieu, Maréchal de Belle-Isle (1696-1788), now in the Metropolitan Museum (no. 2019.283.5), Wrightsman Collection, New York, illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol. II, no. 146, pp. 295-297. Unlike the present lot, that desk has an ebony veneer.
Finally, there is a series of similar desks with slightly different bronzes, such as the one sold at Sotheby's, Paris, 5 May 2015, lot 149 with floral marquetry, and another sold at Christie's, Paris, 30 November 2016, lot 121 with a chevron frieze.
This elegant bureau plat is a brilliant example of the talent of one of the most important cabinet-makers of Louis XV's reign, Bernard II van Risenburg, who elevated the rococo style to the height of refinement. His many collaborations with the most important marchands-merciers of his time, such as Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Lazare Duvaux and Simon-Philippe Poirier, enabled him to design furniture of unprecedented opulence for a wealthy clientele. Their funding enabled him to create exceptionally fine gilt-bronze mounts, characterized by the fineness of their chasing. The marchands-merciers also supplied him with precious materials such as Japanese lacquer and Sèvres porcelain, which were later incorporated into his finest creations. Although he responded to specific commissions, he developed a highly personal and recognizable style. This desk, with its sinuous lines, is one of a series of similar pieces of furniture that he began producing in the 1730s. A model similar to the present lot appears in a painting by Louis Tocqué (1698-1772) portraying the young Dauphin studying, commissioned in 1738 and now in the Louvre (inv. 8174; MR 1634). The desk depicted has the same curved foot with a bronze drop similar to the present desk, with an imposing scrolled shell, and a plain wood veneer.
The famous desk delivered in 1745 for the Dauphin's Grand Cabinet in Versailles (inv. GME 11108) by the marchand-mercier Thomas Joachim Hébert, supplier to the Court, illustrated in P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1990, vol. IV, p. 40-4, is an even more sumptuous version of the model: it has the same ornamentation framing the central drawer, as well as on the locks and side cartouches, but the bois de bout veneer, the floral marquetry and the more exuberant gilt bronzes give the desk royal splendor. BVRB revived the art of floral marquetry after 1740, and this desk was one of the first pieces of furniture supplied to the Garde-Meuble royal.
BVRB's plain wood bureaux plats with the same ornamentation are quite rare. There is a model identical to the present lot from the collection of Madame André Saint, sale in Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 20 and 21 May 1935, lot 185, illustrated in J. Nicolay, L'art et la manière des Maîtres ébénistes Français au XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1976, vol. 1, p.85, fig. C., and another from the former collection of the Duc de Richelieu, Maréchal de Belle-Isle (1696-1788), now in the Metropolitan Museum (no. 2019.283.5), Wrightsman Collection, New York, illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol. II, no. 146, pp. 295-297. Unlike the present lot, that desk has an ebony veneer.
Finally, there is a series of similar desks with slightly different bronzes, such as the one sold at Sotheby's, Paris, 5 May 2015, lot 149 with floral marquetry, and another sold at Christie's, Paris, 30 November 2016, lot 121 with a chevron frieze.