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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED THUYA AND MAHOGANY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
- CIRCA 1780, ATTRIBUTED TO ADAM WEISWEILER

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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED THUYA AND MAHOGANY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
CIRCA 1780, ATTRIBUTED TO ADAM WEISWEILER
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    £70,000 - £100,000
  • ($114,380 - $163,400)

Sale Information

Sale 7816
le grand gout- a private european collection
17 June 2009
London, King Street

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Lot Description

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED THUYA AND MAHOGANY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
CIRCA 1780, ATTRIBUTED TO ADAM WEISWEILER
The rectangular later white marble top inset within a pierced gallery, above a folding door enclosing a veneered plain interior, flanked by columns, above a fall-front frieze-drawer enclosing a gilt-tooled leather-lined writing-surface and four drawers, one with later silvered-metal fittings, the mille-raies corner mounts surmounting gadrooned baluster columns and a shaped undertier with three-quarter gallery, on turned tapering fluted legs and toupie feet, bearing the stamp 'A. WEISWEILER', probably spurious, two drawers stamped 'IW', the mounts re-gilt
43 in. (109.5 cm.) high; 28½ in. (72 cm.) wide; 16 in. (40.5 cm.) deep

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VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Provenance

Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, purchased in 1946 by Henry P. McIlhenny, Esq.
Collection of Henry P. McIlhenny, Philadelphia, sold Christie's, New York, 20-21 May 1987, lot 100 ($154.000).
Anonymous sale, Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 23 June 1988, lot 78.
Anonymous sale, Ader Tajan, Paris, 29 June 1994, lot 35.
Acquired from Galerie Perrin, Paris.

Literature

P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 866
P. Lemonnier, Adam Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 189

Lot Notes

Adam Weisweiler, maitre in 1778.

Embellished with costly thuya veneers and finely-chased ormolu mounts, this superb bonheur-du-jour is a beautiful and elegant example of the work of Adam Weisweiler at the height of his powers, when this ébéniste delivered a number of masterpieces to the Royal family, all commissioned through the famous marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796). This includes the monumental secretaire supplied in January 1784 to Louis XVI's cabinet Interieur at Versailles, which is one of his earliest and most richly mounted pieces of lacquer furniture. (O. Impey and J. Whitehead, 'From Japanese box to French Royal Furniture', Apollo, September 1990, p. 163).

Adam Weisweiler executed various related bonheur-du-jours, varying the basic format, the materials and the gilt-bronze mounts. This includes an example with Wedgwood plaques to the doors in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (C. Bremer David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 22, No. 17) and a further example with a later porcelain plaque to the central door, which was sold from the Dodge collection, Christie's London, 24 June 1971, lot 78. Besides the above-mentioned examples, Patricia Lemonnier lists three other examples veneered in ebony, one of the preferred exotic woods Weisweiler worked with (P. Lemonnier, Adam Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 189). It is interesting to note that Daguerre's stock sale at Christie's London on 25-26 March 1791 included various pieces possibly of the present model although the descriptions do not allow certain identification of any of the well-known examples: lot 74 of the first day 'a set of lady's work shelves comprised of marble ebony and ormoulu' and lot 37 of the second day 'a lady's writing and work table of beautiful wood, mounted in ormoulu'.

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