Live Auction 2695The Opulent Eye
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD SECRETAIRE-COMMODE
Lot 244 PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE NEW YORK COLLECTOR

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD SECRETAIRE-COMMODE

IN THE MANNER OF CHARLES CRESSENT, BY JULES ALLARD ET FILS, PARIS/NEW YORK, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Closed18 April 2013

Price Realised

USD 12,500

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A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD SECRETAIRE-COMMODE
IN THE MANNER OF CHARLES CRESSENT, BY JULES ALLARD ET FILS, PARIS/NEW YORK, EARLY 20TH CENTURY
The brèche d'Alep marble top above a frieze drawer fitted with a writing slide and fitted interior, over two further drawers decorated with a pair of putti and tight-rope-walking monkey, on scroll sabots, the reverse of the mounts variously stamped J.A. and numbered 1036
35½ in. (90 cm.) high, 38½ in. (98 cm.) wide, 23½ in. (60 cm.) deep

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 29 October 1998, lot 169.

Specialist note

Following a successful career in Paris studded with various awards and medals from various Expositions Universelles, the firm of Jules Allard et Fils sought to direct production towards a wealthy American clientele and in 1885 opened a large branch in New York. Collaborating with the Gilded Age's leading architects, Allard's most important commissions included, among others, furnishings for the Vanderbilt Newport mansions, Marble House and The Breakers as well as The Elms for Edward J. Berwind. A monumental fire-surround by the firm and sculptor Louis Ardisson sold Christie's, New York, 11 April 2007, lot 150 ($528,000).

Inspired by Charles Cressent's commode aux enfants balanant un singe dating to 1749-1755, the present secretaire-commode demonstates the continued fascination and demand for furnishings copying the ancien régime.