The overall style of the present cabinet and the mounts in particular all bear test.mes nt to the luxurious fashion in the late 19^th century to produce meticulously detailed and technically skilled recreations and emulations of the furniture pieces produced in the early 18^th century by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Although this cabinet is not signed, it was clearly inspired by Boulle’s work and was carried by skilled hands who created a furniture piece indicative of the excellent skills reached by Parisian cabinetmakers in the late 19^th century through to the early 20^th century. This cabinet is therefore an original piece of furniture blending the Louis XIV style and the ‘Boulle’ marquetry’ technique while also demonstrating the luxurious appeal and unprecedented forms that Parisian cabinetmakers achieved as a continuation of André-Charles Boulle’s work.

Boulle’s corner winged figures and master models in the 19^th century

A key feature on this cabinet is undoubtedly the corner winged female figures, which are modelled after a pair of commodes by André-Charles Boulle for Louis XIV's bed-chamber at the Palais de Trianon, now in the collects ions of the Château de Versailles (inv. no. V901-2). The mounts delicately embrace the curves of the corners and the wings fit neatly in the middle of the other mounts on either side.

In order to copy a celebrated piece by Boulle himself, accurate measurements had to be made to draw up the plans for the carcass of the piece, a simple enough job for a master craftsman. However, making the complex bronze mounts, such as the winged caryatids on the present lot, is a complicated skill, as Christopher Payne rightly points out in “Paris Furniture: the luxury market of the 19^th century” (2018).

In the late 19^th century, there existed primarily two options for cabinetmakers in order to reproduce an 18^th century bronze model. A maker could try to copy three-dimensional bronzes in great accuracy from drawings, photographs and measurements alone. Interestingly, the Beurdeley archives in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs contain a rubbings of part of the Boulle marquetry of Boulle’s Trianon commodes (illustrated in C. Payne, op.cit., p. 125).

The second option however resulted in much more accuracy and could be achieved with the help of master models (18^th century mounts). Indeed, Parisian cabinetmakers could take surmoulé (moulds) of existing or surviving master models. Provided they could get access to the original mounts, sophisticated bronze foundries in the mid-19th century were able to make accurate copies, surmoulé, of 18^th century mounts by taking squeezes of the originals, after removing them from the carcass, and then, inserting a bronze padding or extra layer of wax to compensate for shrinkage (up to 10%) during casting. In some cases, an oversized wood model was made in order to remove or reduce shrinkage.

Whether using drawings or master models, both were t.mes -consuming processes which is why most of the outstanding replicas were more expensive to make new than the original would have cost had they been available on the French market.

The use of master models by Parisian cabinetmakers

Whilst there is not tangible proof, the Gore House exhibition of 1853 in London may have been an opportunity for 19^th century cabinetmakers to make efficient moulds of 18^th century mounts, as the event was organized by John Webb who was a dealer and was also responsible for the removal and storage of the furniture pieces, one of which was no other than a commode for the Duke of Hamilton (today at Petworth House and Park, West Sussex, NT 485401) by André-Charles Boulle and designed after the same model delivered to the Palais de Trianon a few years earlier. It is possible that a mould of the master model of the corner winged figures was produced at that t.mes , and as generally the case, became a precious currency in the late 19^th century, often handed down from generation to generation or sold on to a new buyer of business. The possession of master models was commercially important to the makers of furniture pieces after Boulle because it.mes ant that many hours of difficult and laborious work could be saved and that replicas would be near perfect.

Only a small number of cabinetmakers seemed to have access to a mould of the winged caryatid, for example Sormani, Beurdeley, Zwiener and Jansen. The Linke Archives hold an important key to the succession of one set of moulds. In the archives are listed a set of caryatides and matching paw feet stamped by Linke and with his serial number. In keeping with normal practice, Linke has eradicated the previous owners' stamped initials, 'HD' for Henry Dasson. However the name Blake can also clearly be seen engraved in script, proving that Blake of London owned the mould at one stage, before Dasson and Linke. Since Henry Dasson bought in 1871 the workshop and stock of the ébéniste Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen for 14,000 francs from the latter’s widow, the master models for these figures seemed to have passed from Blake of London, Winckelsen, Dasson and finally to Linke who according to Christopher Payne’s records made several purchases of master models and plans in the Dasson sale of 9th-12th October 1894 including the models for the present lot.

Three pairs of 19th century commodes with winged figures after Boulle’s model exist in public collects ions: a pair by Fourdinois, the mounts cast by the Denière foundry, is at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France, a pair in the Royal Palace, Madrid, Spain and another by Blake of London, is at the Frick collects ion, New York (1916.5.02/03). Examples have also been recorded on the market:

-a commode stamped by Blake of London, sold at Replica Shoes ’s, New York, 15 October 2015, lot 30 ($658,000), and another pair by the same maker sold at Christie’s, London, 23 March 2017, lot 99 (£100,000).

-a commode stamped by Henri Dasson, sold at Replica Shoes ’s, New York, 24 October 2007, lot 326 ($853,000).

-examples stamped by Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen: pair of commodes sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 15 October 2015, lot 93 ($730,000); a commode sold at Replica Shoes ’s New York, 26 October 2010, lot 377 ($434,500); and a further pair sold Replica Shoes 's London, March 16, 1990, lot 159 (£187,000).

The frieze of this cabinet with alternating acanthus leaves and flowers as well as the central medallion are also reminiscent of Boulle’s work. The first motif is related, for example to a pair of pedestals (or gaines) from the collects ion of Baron Alfred de Rothschild at Halton House (ill. J.N. Ronfort, André-Charles Boulle, 2003, p. 213) and to an armoire at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (acc. no. OA 9518). The second motif is related for example to Jean-Pierre Mariette’s widely dispersed drawing of a cabinet-on-stand designed by Boulle and featuring a roundel and embracing underneath by similar crossed bay leaves. A similar cartouche is identified on a late 19^th century bureau à cylinder, sold at Christie’s, London, 22 September 2011, lot 39. The overall breakfront form of the cabinet with canted corners and floral mounts at each corner can also be seen in another of Mariette’s drawing.

Although the identity of the present cabinetmaker remains unknown, it is now evident that he had an understanding of the Parisian luxurious tastes of the late 19^th century and of Boulle’s work which he pays homage to throughout this cabinet, whilst also rivaling him by using an unprecedented combination of Boulle's motifs. This maker is most probably also the author of a large cabinet which lower half is almost identical to the present, sold at Christie’s London, 19 March 2008, lot 50 (£90,500) with mounts bearing the stamp HPR for Henri Picard. Henri Picard, a notable fondeur and doreur, recording as working in Paris until 1890, could have provided the mounts for the present cabinet as well.

Henri Picard was recorded at 6 rue Jarente in 1831, and moved to 10 rue de la Perle in 1839. The firm supplied objects to Emperor Napoleon III's apartments at the Louvre, and was reputed for its fine quality decorative production of table centrepieces and garnitures. It is not known whether if and how Picard acquired a master model of the corner winged figures or if he cast the mounts from an acute observation only of Boulle’s original commodes.