Christie’s roundel
Lot 544

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED SYCAMORE, CITRONNIER AND MARQUETRY TABLE EN CHIFFONIERE

CIRCA 1770-75, ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES TOPINO

Closed10 December 2009

Price Realised

GBP 43,250

More Information

How to sell

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED SYCAMORE, CITRONNIER AND MARQUETRY TABLE EN CHIFFONIERE
CIRCA 1770-75, ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES TOPINO
The grey-veined white marble top with three-quarter gallery above a frieze drawer, on cabriole legs joined by a galleried undertier, on foliate-cast feet, inlaid overall with laurel and ribbon-tied flowers, the frieze mounts associated but late 18th Century
28½ in. (72 cm.) high; 16 in. (41 cm.) wide; 13½ in. (35 cm.) deep

Specialist note

Charles Topino, maître in 1773.

Established in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Topino specialized in the production of light furniture enriched with marquetry, either in the form of flowers or 'naif' still-lives inspired by the borders of Chinese screens. Employed as a specialist marqueteur by marchands such as Héricourt, Dautriche, Migeon, Denizot, Delorme, Tuart, Boudin and Moreau, Topino's characteristic bronze dorés were cast by Viret, chased by Chamboin and Dubuisson and gilded by Bécard, Gérard and Vallet. As his daybook for the years 1771-79 clearly reveals, Topino had very few private clients. He supplied a table of this general form to a marchand at a cost of around sixty to seventy livres.

Several tables of this model by Topino are recorded, either with a marble top, as here, or with a marquetry top. A near identical pair of tables, both stamped by Topino, are discussed in Partridge Recent Acquisitions, 1998, no. 52, pp. 126-7; three tables of closely related form are illustrated in J. Nicolay, L'Art et la Manière des Maîtres Ebénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1956, p. 461, figs. J,K,L. A further table of this model, retaining the marchand label for Louis Moreau, was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 27 May 1999, lot 289.