Live Auction 17185The Collector: European and English Furniture, Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures & Works of Art
A GERMAN BRASS-INLAID EBONY, WALNUT, FRUITWOOD AND 'BOULLE' MARQUETRY SECRETAIRE-ON-CHEST
Lot 140

A GERMAN BRASS-INLAID EBONY, WALNUT, FRUITWOOD AND 'BOULLE' MARQUETRY SECRETAIRE-ON-CHEST

POSSIBLY BY ANTON LÜCHTENSTEIN, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

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Price Realised

GBP 25,000

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A GERMAN BRASS-INLAID EBONY, WALNUT, FRUITWOOD AND 'BOULLE' MARQUETRY SECRETAIRE-ON-CHEST
POSSIBLY BY ANTON LÜCHTENSTEIN, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Finely inlaid and etched with symmetrical scrolling foliate motifs, the rectangular top with moulded edge above six frieze drawers, with a hinged writing surface inlaid to the reverse with marquetry and enclosing a fitted interior with pigeon holes and thirteen brass-inlaid drawers, the brass support bars inscribed 'NI/CF/W' and 'CF/NI/M' respectively, the hinges and lock plates further engraved, the chest below with three top drawers, two central drawers, and one freize base drawer, raised on four square feet, stamped to the reverse with an encircled monogram 'VL' beneath a crown, the block feet later, probably English and 19th century
66 ¼ in. (168 cm.) high; 51 ½ in. (131 cm.) wide; 17 ½ in. (44.5 cm.) deep

Specialist note


Anton Lüchtenstein (fl. 1696-1716).
This impressive secretaire is embellished with a distinctive 'Boulle' marquetry pattern of dense scrolls and foliate-edged strapwork, and is contre-partie to its twin, sold Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, lot 126. These cabinets are closely related to a celebrated pair of coin cabinets in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (R 388), which were supplied by the Düsseldorf cabinet-maker Anton Lüchtenstein to Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatine (1658-1716) in 1701. They are recorded in the Mannheifmer Residenz in 1730, and were transferred to Munich, where they are recorded in 1785 (G. Himmelheber, Kabinettschränke, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, 1977, pp. 62-64, nos. 66-67). Lüchtenstein's characteristic style relates to that of Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (circa 1639-1715), and particularly to his famous parquet floor executed for the Royal Swedish coach, commissioned by Charles XI (d. 1697), which is illustrated in A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Paris, 1989, p. 65, fig, 11.