Live Auction 8893Christie's Interiors - Style & Spirit
A NAPOLEON III GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL, EBONISED AND BRASS-INLAID MEUBLE D'APPUI
Lot 382

A NAPOLEON III GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL, EBONISED AND BRASS-INLAID MEUBLE D'APPUI

BY MATHIEU BEFORT (KNOWN AS BEFORT JEUNE), PARIS, CIRCA 1860, AFTER THE MODEL BY A.C. BOULLE

Closed11 June 2013

Price Realised

GBP 6,875

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A NAPOLEON III GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED TORTOISESHELL, EBONISED AND BRASS-INLAID MEUBLE D'APPUI
BY MATHIEU BEFORT (KNOWN AS BEFORT JEUNE), PARIS, CIRCA 1860, AFTER THE MODEL BY A.C. BOULLE
With black slate top, the door mounted with Socrates listening to a philosophy lesson given by the courtesan Aspasia, enclosing an oak interior with support for a shelf, the angles headed by bearded figures, the sides centred by Hercules masks wearing the pelt of the Nemean lion, the carcase stamped six times BEFORT JEUNE
46¾ in. (119 cm.) high; 38½ in. (97 cm.) wide; 17¾ in. (45 cm.) deep

Specialist note

The door mounts are copied from Boulle's celebrated low armoires, a pair of which are now at Versailles.
Mathieu Befort (1813-1880), known as Befort Jeune, was part of a celebrated dynasty of Parisian cabinetmakers. The Befort firm specialised in top quality 'meubles de Boulle' and won a medal at the 1844 Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie Française.