KOLLER View 1/22

8 1 A Rococo gilt copper part service by the Demidoff manufactory. Russia, Ural, circa 1760/70. H 19/26/33 cm. Estimate: CHF 30 000/50 000 (the pieces will be offered as individual lots) 2 A Louis XIV Boulle marquetry com- mode, Paris circa 1710. Probably by Nicolas Sageot. 132 × 67.5 × 81 cm. Estimate: CHF 80 000/120 000 3 An important Boulle marquetry bibliothèque. Paris, 2nd half 18 th c. In the manner of Nicolas Sageot, pos- sibly by Levasseur or Montigny. 178 × 56 × 298 cm. Estimate: CHF 200 000/300 000 Preview of the Decorative Arts auction on 31 March 2022 The art of marquetry A definitive attribution of early 18th-century furniture with marquetry in the manner of André-Charles Boul- le is quite challenging, as most pieces from this period are not signed. Moreover, the marquetry was execut- ed by specialised craftsmen, usually not the cabinet- maker himself. In a study of the work of ‘marqueteurs’ in the last third of the 18 th century, Geoffrey de Bel- laigue concludes that they often held the copyrights to their designs and sold their works to various cab- inetmakers. This practice probably began in the late 17 th century, during the reign of Louis XIV (Geoffrey de Bellaigue, ‘Engravings and The French Eighteenth-Cen- tury Marqueteur’, in: The Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240–250, and July 1965, pp. 357–362 ) . This explains the appearance of identical or very similar marquetry on furniture by different cabinetmakers, as well as the fact that the motifs do not always corre- spond to the proportions of the case. The spring Decorative Arts auction features a Boulle marquetry chest of drawers richly inlaid in red tor- toiseshell, mother-of-pearl, dyed horn, and brass en- graved with motifs in the manner of Jean Bérain the Elder (ill. 2). It can be attributed, with caution, to the workshop of the Paris-based cabinetmaker Nicolas Sageot, who received his maîtrise in 1706. There are four known pieces of furniture with Boulle marque- try signed by Sageot: a ‘Mazarin’ writing desk in the Royal Collection in Stockholm; a display cabinet (sold at Drouot Paris in 1988), and two half-cabinets (sold at Christie’s Monaco, 1992). The first two examples present marquetry in red-coloured tortoiseshell and brass in the manner of Bérain, and the marquetry on the top of our chest of drawers is very similar to that of the Stockholm desk. The predominantly softwood construction and the bronze ornaments employed also support a possible Sageot authorship. Another highlight of our 31 March auction, an out- standing bookcase with brass inlay on ebony (ill. 3), has also been attributed in the past to Nicolas Sa- geot (Christie’s New York, 2006). Instead, based on its construction as well as its bronze applications, we date this work to circa 1770/80, when ébénistes such as Etienne Levasseur ( maître in 1767) and Philippe- Claude Montigny ( maître in 1777) developed a ‘Boulle revival’ style by imitating brass-and-tortoiseshell fur- niture in the style of Louis XIV. Amore precise attribu- tion, however, remains elusive. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION DECORATIVE ARTS Stephan Koller skoller@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com 1 2