Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Rare removable flat desk in ebony veneer and blackened wood inlaid with brass fillets.
It opens with three drawers on the front; including two oblong-shaped drawers on the sides and a large trapezoidal-shaped pull-out drawer in the central part.
Each drawer has a bronze frame with plant friezes; the side drawers with drop handles with laurel tori; acanthus rosettes and keyholes with lion’s muzzles; the central drawer with a large openwork palmette which serves as a lock entry.
The opposite side has an identical decoration which simulates three drawers.
The four arched feet ending in acanthus-shaped slippers are protected by corner irons and feature large women's masks at the top.
The crosspieces are scrolled and highlighted with a double inlay of brass threads; they form “C” shapes decorated with gadrooned bronze with a frieze of decreasing flowers which follow the cutout of the drawers and serve as a separation from the central drawer.
The middle part of the sides presents an important bronze symbolizing astronomy in the form of a goddess leaning on a starry globe who holds a compass in her hand.
The top covered in brown leather gilded with small irons is framed by a large bronze ingot mold with a double corbin beak.
The desk can be completely dismantled thanks to an ingenious wooden key system.
Interior of drawers in walnut, frame in fir.
Beautiful ornamentation of original bronzes, in their previous mercury gilding.
Attributable to François Lieutaud, subcontracting for the haberdasher Noël Gérard, Paris around 1725-1730.
Dimensions:
Height: 80 cm; Width: 162 cm; Depth: 82 cm
Conservation state :
The state of conservation of our desk is optimal, the frame, the veneer, the backs and the interiors of the drawers are original.
The bronzes are also all original, in their old mercury gilding.
The three-part leather is old but probably dates from the end of the 19th century or the very beginning of the 20th century.
The black lacquer which serves as a connection to the ebony veneer has been restored on the worn parts, in particular on the edges of the drawers.
The three locks were formerly replaced in the 19th century.
Two cleats nailed with two small points inside the sides ensure better support of the top, they are reversible.
Offices in the same corpus:
Residenz Munich, stamped “FL” Inv. no. BA M13 (162 cm)
Residenz Ansbach, stamped “FL”, Inv ANSRES M49 (195 cm)
Bedroom of the Duchess of Maine, Arsenal library, Paris
Toledo museum, stamped “NG”, Inv No. 1952.61
Christie’s New York October 14, 2016, ($106,250)
Piasa study, Paris on June 15, 2016, ASSNAT mark of the national assembly
Giquello study, Paris on 03/29/2019 lot 138, 257,530 euros
Etude Europe auction, Paris March 16, 2011, lot 200, (240,000 euros)
Christies London July 7, 2005 lot 474, in amaranth, 211 cm (131,200 GPB)
Study :
Our office is part of a small corpus of around ten copies with bronze decoration and identical shape.
We know a little more about these desks thanks to the presence of two of them in German collections.
Both desks are stamped “FL” for François Lieutaud and date from approximately the same period; They almost never moved.
The first preserved at the Ansbach Residence was delivered in 1729 for the Margraves of Brandenburg, the second mentioned in the first inventory of the palace of the Munich Residence in 1759 was probably ordered when Charles VII inherited Bavaria on the death of his father in 1726.
In addition to the prince electors of the Holy Empire, this model also attracted the great dignitaries of the kingdom of France since the copy kept in the arsenal library as well as two other desks bearing the marks of the national assembly come from the national collections and were certainly alienated from the revolution.
As the national furniture was only numbered from the 1740s, it is not possible today to know precisely whether this furniture comes from the great royal castles or rather from buildings such as ministries.
But what is certain is that this model represented the pinnacle of French furniture at the time, to the point of being exported outside the borders of the kingdom.
This success has two main reasons, firstly the personality of François Lieutaud who became the most prominent cabinetmaker in the kingdom after the death of André Charles Boulle in 1719.
Like the latter, he obtained from King Louis XIV the rare privilege of casting his bronzes; he therefore makes his own wax models and keeps the molds.
He is the author of some of the most beautiful furniture in the kingdom and it is therefore normal that orders flock to him.
