A REGENCE ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, BRASS AND TORTOISESHELL-INLAID 'BOULLE' MARQUETRY COMMODE

The top of this spectacular commode, decorated in première partie Boulle marquetry in brass, luxurious red tortoiseshell and is typical of the ingenious inventiveness with which Nicolas Sageot, maître in 1706, created ever new designs using the 'antique' and 'arabesque' engravings of Jean Bérain (d. 1711) as his main source. The overall form of the commode and in particular its marquetry relates it closely to another commode stamped by Sageot, though with four rather than three drawers, previously in the collections of the Dukes of Newcastle and sold at Christie's, London, 16 December 1999, lot 50 (£287,500). Another closely related commode is that from the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson, previously in the collection of the duchesse de Talleyrand, sold Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 1992, lot 69 ($385,000).