Live Auction 2350500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe, Including Oriental Carpets
A NAPOLEON III ORMOLU AND PIETRE DURE-MOUNTED EBONY AND EBONIZED BUREAU PLAT
Lot 635

A NAPOLEON III ORMOLU AND PIETRE DURE-MOUNTED EBONY AND EBONIZED BUREAU PLAT

AFTER A MODEL BY CHARLES CRESSENT, THE CASE BY MATHIEU BEFORT (DIT BEFORT JEUNE), PARIS, THE PIETRE DURE FLORENTINE, CIRCA 1850

Closed22 October 2010

Price Realised

USD 74,500

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A NAPOLEON III ORMOLU AND PIETRE DURE-MOUNTED EBONY AND EBONIZED BUREAU PLAT
AFTER A MODEL BY CHARLES CRESSENT, THE CASE BY MATHIEU BEFORT (DIT BEFORT JEUNE), PARIS, THE PIETRE DURE FLORENTINE, CIRCA 1850
The canted rectangular top inlaid with floral sprays and perched birds, over a wavy frieze applied with raised floral bouquets and set with three spring-activated drawers, the central drawer flanked by bearded masks, the angles headed with espagnolettes, on cabriole legs terminating in scrolled sabots, the top of the carcase variously stamped BEFORT JEUNE
30¾ in. (78 cm.) high, 54½ in. (138.5 cm.) wide, 30¾ in. (78 cm.) deep

Specialist note

Mathieu Befort, dit Befort Jeune, was the son of Jean-Baptiste Befort (d. 1840), who established his Paris workshops in 1817 in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré. He was a brother of Bernard Befort, ébéniste-marqueteur and 'antiquaire'. The firm, which specialized in 'furniture in the style of Boulle and in the use of bronze and hardstone' (D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1965, p. 29), received a medal at the 1844 Exposition des produits de l'industrie français. Befort Jeune was recorded at Neuves-Saint-Gilles from 1844 until 1880.
An identical bureau by Befort Jeune is illustrated in A. Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, London, 2000, p. 106. Until 2008 a wax effigy of Sir Arthur Gilbert remained seated at the Befort bureau at Somerset House as part of a recreation of his offices in Beverly Hills, California. The piece is now on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.