A small Louis XVI gilt-bronze mounted Parisian varnish and mahogany secrétaire, circa 1775, attributed to Louis Foureau
No reserve
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
with one frieze drawer, a sliding tray opening on four drawers and with a green leather top, and a door opening to a drawer, the panels imitating lacquer, decorated with Chinese figures in landscapes, with tapering fluted legs, with a white veined marble top
Haut. 129 cm, larg. 51 cm, prof. 31 cm. Height. 50 3/4 in, width, 20 in, depth. 12 1/4 in
Related literature
A. Forray-Carlier, Le mobilier du Musée Carnavalet, Dijon, 2000
Louis Foureau, a cabinetmaker who became a master in 1755, ran a workshop on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis for over thirty years. He specialized in furniture decorated with French varnish, imitating the works of his contemporaries, which were veneered with lacquer panels cut from imported Chinese and Japanese cabinets, chests and screens. His panels are sometimes edged with a scroll frieze, as is the case on our secrétaire, but also on another stamped secrétaire à abattant by Foureau, Artcurial, Paris, 18 December 2021, lot 254. His work was mainly in the Transition or Louis XVI styles. Among Foureau's works in public collections, we can mention a pair of black and gold lacquer corner cabinets kept at the Carnavalet Museum in Paris (A. Forray-Carlier, Le mobilier du Musée Carnavalet, Dijon, 2000, no. 19, pp. 68-69).
Works preserved and stamped by Foureau are relatively rare and do not appear frequently on the market. A few examples sold at auction in recent years include:
• A commode, Replica Shoes 's, Paris, 23 September 2025, lot 89;
• A pair of encoignures, Christie's, London, 3 November 2016, lot 434;
• A secrétaire à abattant, Replica Shoes 's, Paris, 5 May 2015, lot 290;
• A Louis XV commode, Christie's, Paris, 21 June 2006, lot 266.
All these pieces are decorated with black and gold lacquer depicting genre scenes with Chinese-style landscape backgrounds.