A LOUIS XIV EBONY, RED TORTOISESHELL AND BRASS-INLAID BUREAU MAZARIN

The overall form and design of the marquetry panels on this bureau are closely related to a bureau mazarin, stamped by Nicolas Sageot, in the Royal Palace in Stockholm (illustrated in P. Grand, 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February, 1993, pp. 50), and reproduced here.

Nicolas Sageot, son of a wine grower, was born in 1666. His atelier was probably active from 1690, though the first records date from 1698 when he employed two workers. Sageot worked until 1706 as an ouvrier libre, before his appointment as maître in 1706, and was based in the faubourg Saint-Antoine. He evidently rapidly expanded his business, as by 1711 he had 12,000 livres, almost all in stock-in-trade. The extensive nature of his business is revealed by the sale in 1720 to Léonard Prieur 'Marchand Mercier Grossier Joaillier Priviligié suivant la Cour' of 16,000 livres of furniture, consisting of a wide range of armoires, bureaux and commodes and amongst which were several 'armoires à dôme' in brass-inlaid tortoiseshell, valued between 400 and 1000 livres. Retiring on 26 July 1720 he sold 16,000 livres worth of furniture, all of which was decorated with brass and tortoiseshell marquetry, whose work is discussed in P. Grand, op. cit., pp. 48-70.