A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED BRASS-INLAID AND TORTOISESHELL 'BOULLE' MARQUETRY AND EBONY BIBLIOTHEQUE BASSE

The present cabinet is based on a celebrated 18th century model which proved a great commercial success for its creator, André-Charles Boulle. A number of versions are known including a pair of bibliothèque basse – dated to circa 1720 and used for the display of books and treasured small works of art – formerly in the collection of the Duc de Bourbon, Louis-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, and today in in the Louvre (OA 5461 and OA 5466, see J. Durand, M. Bimbenet-Privat, F. Dassas Eds., Decorative Furnishings and Objets d’Art in the Louvre, Paris, 2014, pp. 154-5, no. 21). The Bourbon-Condé bibliothèques were installed in the 18th century at the family’s château de Chantilly, and are visible in period engravings amidst the lavish decoration of this spectacular residence. In the 19th century, the Bourbon-Condé cabinets were moved to the château de Saint Cloud and, in order to adapt them to their new surroundings, were increased in height with the addition of a band of rectangular panels of marquetry beneath the row of cabinet doors. Interestingly, in the present cabinet, Henry Dasson chose to replicate the bibliothèque basse in its original form, eliminating the larger band of marquetry panels beneath the cabinet doors still present in the 18th century originals at the Louvre. Dasson – one of the finest cabinetmakers and artisans of the late 19th century – was particularly well known for the high quality of his gilt bronzes, fine examples of which can be seen on the present bibliothèque, a fine homage to the masterwork of the Ancien Régime.