A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD AND VERNIS MARTIN BUREAU PLAT

This sumptuous bureau plat is exemplary of Zwiener's favoured neo-rococo style which combined sinuous lines, marquetry, vernis Martin panels and flowing gilt-bronze mounts. Born in Herdon, Germany in 1849, Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener is recorded as having worked in Paris at 12, rue de la Roquette from 1880 to 1895. At the Paris Exposition universelle of 1889, Zwiener received a gold medal and was lauded by the jurists who noted ‘M. Zwiéner qui, dès ses débuts à une exposition universelle, s'est mis au premier rang par la richesse, la hardiesse et le fini de ses meubles incrustés de bronzes et fort habilement marquetés’ (Rapport du Jury International, Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1889 à Paris, Group III. - Mobilier et accessoires Classes 17 à 29. p.10).

In 1895 he sold his Paris workshop to Jean-Henri Jansen for 10,000 francs. Joseph-Emmanuel continued to work with Jansen on a few projects and with his brother Julius who was an established cabinetmaker in Berlin. In 1894 Julius apparently bought numerous designs and sketches for furniture from Paris to Berlin and Julius’ furniture is stylistically so similar that and it is often attributed to Joseph Emmanuel in Paris.