Lot n° 161
Estimation :
300000 - 400000
EUR
LARGE flat desk in amaranth veneer opening... - Lot 161 - Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés
LARGE flat desk in amaranth veneer opening with three drawers on each side and a side pull. Feet in sheath with brass flutes. Rich ornamentation of gilded bronzes. Tray with brass angle and astragals, covered with green leather gilded with small irons. Stamped Garnier (five times).
Louis XVI period.
Height : 79 cm - Length : 232 cm - Depth : 129 cm.
And an associated amaranth veneered cartonnier with four shelves on either side of a mercury barometer (dial redone) surmounted by a regulator with equation of time signed F. Ageron in Paris on the plate and on the dial, and a bronze armillary sphere (reported). Movement beating the second. Suspension with blade. A stamp. Silvered and gilded dial with window for the dates of the month. Ornamentation of gilt bronze with two putti and a laurel wreath. Spiral gilt bronze feet, fluted with asparagus.
Stamped Garnier (five times).
Louis XVI period.
(Accidents and important modifications).
Height : 231 cm - Width : 130 cm - Depth : 81 cm.
Pierre Garnier, received master on December 31, 1742. Installed throughout his career on rue Neuve des Petits Champs, Pierre Garnier was the initiator of the "à la grecque" style and worked in particular for the Duchess of Mazarin and the Marquis de Marigny, director of the Bâtiments du Roi. The powerful architecture of his furniture, the sheathed legs with a wide flute are characteristic of his work after 1750. François Ageron received the title of Master Watchmaker on July 17, 1741. Known for his movements with complications, he is one of the greatest Parisian clockmakers, installed first on the Pont Saint Michel, then on the quai des Augustins in 1748 and finally on the place Dauphine in Paris in 1772. He stopped his activity in 1780. Movement revised by Louis Vildant in March 1872. This piece of furniture is part of a very comparable series made by Pierre Garnier: A flat desk which was part of the sale of the Marquis de Biron in 1914 (n° 363), is currently kept in the Gulbenkian museum (n° 37). Another from the collection of the Countess of Terray is kept at The Huntington Library in San Marino, California (no. 11. 28). A third, belonging to the Marquess of Bath, is in Longleat, Somerset, and a fourth, said to have belonged to Talleyrand, once in Sagan Castle.
Provenance : By family tradition : duc de la Vallière. Then Château du Fresne and the estate of General de Brantes in 1950. "The furniture comes partly from the Montesquiou sale (1872) and mainly from the collection assembled by Mr and Mrs de Brantes since the time of their marriage. We will only mention the large desk with cardboard box, made by Garnier, for the Duke of La Vallière, towards the end of the reign of Louis XV... ". (La terre du Fresne en vendomois).
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