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A very important near pair of Louis XV Transitional Louis XVI gilt bronze mounted kingwood and tulipwood parquetry commodes ‘à la grecque’, each of gentle breakfronted form, the shaped rectangular veined red and white marble top above three frieze drawers mounted with a guilloche enclosing a flowerhead above a stylised Greek key frieze, above two long drawers inlaid with cube parquetry enclosing flowerheads within a rectangular gilt bronze panel with concave corners enclosing a patera, the drawers with circular ribbon-tied wreath handles and central conforming escutcheons, with ram’s head masks at the angles, with similarly inlaid sides, the shaped apron mounted with guttae, acanthus swags and acanthus, on cabriole legs mounted by an acanthus trail terminating in lion paw feet
Paris, date circa 1760
Height 92 cm, width 150 cm, depth 69 cm. each.
Provenance: Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, most probably housed at Castello di Castagneto Po, Turin.
Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français de XVIIIe Siècle”, 1989, p. 618, illustrating two comparable commodes ‘à la grecque’ by Jean-François Oeben, the first, sold in Paris 1942, decorated overall with cube parquetry, of the same overall form, identical ram’s head masks heading the angles and a comparable guilloche frieze band; the second formerly from the Bensimon collection, which features a central inlaid panel with an elaborate floral bouquet flanked by cube parquetry panels below an inlaid Greek key frieze. Alexandre Pradère, “French Furniture Makers”, 1989, p. 261, pls. 276-278, illustrating three similar commodes ‘à la grecque’ with cube parquetry by Jean-François Oeben, one of which is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California, each of almost identical overall form and featuring the same ram’s head angle mounts and comparable frieze mounts.
The importance of these magnificent commodes not only rests upon their design and quality but also their history. Both came from the collection of the industrialist, composer and great art connoisseur Alberto Bruni Tedeschi (1915-1996). Throughout his life Alberto Bruni Tedeschi collected fine art with a consummate passion filling his many homes in Paris, Rambouillet, St. Paul de Vence, Rome, Moriondo (Turin) and Cap Nègre but particularly Castello di Castagneto Po, Turin with the very finest works of art. As his wife Marisa explains: “For him, going to antique shops and art galleries was a passion and a spirited activity. Nothing else could relax him as much. Every day, he visited antique dealers, choosing a particular object which would satisfy his desire; he would then negotiate, yet his motivation was not investment, but his passion for art.” Born in Turin, he inherited the family company CEAT (one of the leading Italian manufacturers of tyres and cables) from his father; Alberto also followed a musical career and remained a composer of contemporary music throughout his life. From 1959 to 1971, he was artistic director of the Teatro Regio in Turin, one of Italy’s most important and modern opera houses, leaving behind him an impressive oeuvre of operas, symphonies and ballets.
Alberto, who inherited his passion for art from his father, began to collect during his youth; he not only acquired furniture, paintings, objets d’art, and china but also other items such as handkerchiefs and even flags. After he bought the Castello di Castagneto Po in 1952, its restoration and decoration became one of his main preoccupations for the next 30 years. The origins of the castle date back to the eleventh century, when it was built to protect the region of Piedmont from invasion, and it has been occupied by a number of illustrious families throughout its history. The present structure was built after designs by Nicolis di Robilant in the 1740s and was completed in 1835 by Ernesto Melano, architect to the King. When Alberto took over the castle, he restored frescoes designed by Piedmontese artists including Govin (1808-89) and Sereno (1829-93), added antique inlaid floors and boiseries, and began to fill its rooms with period furniture, works of art and paintings. In the 1970s however, with the dawn of the Red Brigade in Italy, Alberto moved his family to Paris.
Success and fortune as well as a highly discerning eye enabled Alberto Bruni Tedeschi to acquire only the very finest works of art, of which the present commodes are exemplary. Such is their quality that they must have been made by one of the most esteemed eighteenth century Parisian ébénistes, such as Jean-François Oeben (1721-63). Of German birth, he became a naturalised French citizen and having worked for Charles-Joseph Boulle at the Louvre, was in 1754 appointed ébéniste du roi. Oeben was responsible for making a series of commodes ‘à la grecque’, of which seventeen in mahogany or bois satiné were supplied to Madame de Pompadour, all of which followed the same overall design as here in that they were of rectangular form with a central breakfront with frieze drawers but had central drawers with doors either side (as opposed to two long drawers running the entire width) and were supported on cabriole legs.
A number of Oeben commodes that followed those lines also had the same ram’s head angle mounts as here as well as a comparable guilloche frieze. However the five examples (cited under literature) feature certain differences in that none include a Greek key frieze mount, although the one from the Bensimon collection includes an inlaid Greek key frieze and also as here has two long drawers below the frieze drawers. Another slight difference is that Oeben’s related commodes include inlaid rather than gilt bronze borders around the three front and side panels but they, like these, are decorated with circular gilt bronze mounts at each corner. Furthermore the present angles and legs are more elaborately inlaid and terminate in lion paw rather than foliate sabots. One of the beauties of these commodes is the complexity of the flowerhead-filled cube parquetry, which though slightly more complex than that on Oeben’s related commodes, is likewise of supreme quality. Certainly, if not by Oeben, one can safely assert that the present commodes were by a master of the highest rank who was an expert in marquetry and indeed one who used the same mounts as the royal ébéniste himself.
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