Description:
A Superb Quality French 19th Century Regence Style Ormolu-Mounted Boulle and Ebony Bureau Plat (Desk), attributed to Béfort Jeune (Mathieu Béfort, 1813-1880), after a model by Andre Charles Boulle (French, 1642-1732). The rectangular ebony frame with exceptionally finely silver inlaid in all sides with fillets in "Premiere partie" scrolled acanthus leaves and foliage and with equally exceptional and finely chiseled, matte and burnished ormolu mounts of Bacchus heads, female masks, frames and handles, with a central drawer, flanked on each side by a single drawer, the verso with the same arrangement but sham drawers. Raised on four “cabriole” legs decorated with gilt-bronze like falls in “espagnolette” and paw-claws surmounted by acanthus leaves, the black leather top with embossed gilt-trim and serpentine sides above a frieze. (with one original key). Circa: Paris, 1880.
Mathieu Béfort, also known as "Béfort Jeune" was a Parisian cabinet maker, the son of Jean-Baptiste Béfort (1783-1840), with their workshop located at "1 rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles" between 1844 and 1866. Béfort Jeune was well known for the high quality of his works which, in hence, made him purveyor to Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie. Many of his pieces were inspired by the designs of Louis XIV cabinet-maker Andre Charles Boulle. The contemporary Almanach du Commerce listed Béfort as a specialist in "meubles Boulle et de rose avec mosaique et bronzes".
André Charles Boulle (Paris 1642 – 1732), was the most famous and talented cabinet-maker and bronzier of his time. Recorded as a Cabinet-Maker Master in 1664, he was also a founder, designer, sculptor and the Royal Cabinet-maker for King Louis XIV. Boulle worked at the Louvre in Paris and his state-of-the-art technique of saw-cutting brass plate and tortoiseshell utilizing Dutch and Italian 17th Century crafts in the form of inlay on top of each other, has been known and referred ever since as "Boulle Work or Boulle Style".
Literature :
Ledoux-Lebard Denise, Le mobilier du XIXe siècle, Les Editions de l’Amateur, Paris, 1984 edition, p. 48.
Arizzoli Pierre – Clementel, Le mobilier de Versailles, tome 2, les Editions Faton, Dijon, 2002 edition, pages 43 & 45.
Height: 31 1/2 inches (80 cm)
Width: 61 1/2 inches (156.2 cm)
Depth: 33 3/4 inches (85.7 cm)
Ref.: A1868
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