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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine Louis XV gilt bronze mounted feather banded bois de violette bureau plat attributed to Pierre Migeon II, the shaped rectangular feather-banded inset gilt-tooled red leather writing surface with brass surround above three frieze drawers with central rocaille escutcheon and handle flanked by conforming mounts on the two smaller outer drawers and divided by scrolled rocaille mounts, the sides with elaborate scrolled rocaille mounts, the edges finished with a running gilt beaded border, on cabriole legs headed by scrolled foliate rocaille angle mounts terminating in conforming scrolling foliate sabots Paris, date circa 1750 Height 78 cm, length 168 cm, depth 88.5 cm. The overall shape, finely detailed inlays and quality of the gilt bronze mounts compare closely with another bureau plat bearing Pierre Migeon II’s stamp, illustrated in Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle”, 1998, p. 575, pl. F. A similar but smaller Louis XV Migeon bois de rose and amaranth bureau plat with floral inlays can be found at the Musée de Beauvais. Pierre Migeon II (1701-58) was the most celebrated member of an important Protestant Parisian family of ébénistes, who supplied pieces to the royal court and cream of French society. For more information on his life and works see page ? (old no 130). The present piece is typical of a number of Louis XV bureaux plats, which nearly always had a single row of frieze drawers, with the longer in the centre, flanked by two smaller ones. Compared with earlier Régence period bureaux, the four legs were as here more tapered and curved and instead of the earlier straight sided tops with rounded corners, the leather lined Louis XV writing top was entirely curved and was enclosed by a gilt mounted border. The best quality pieces such as we see here had gilt angle mounts and likewise occasionally had a gilt mounted border around the entire edge. |