A LOUIS XIV MOTHER-OF-PEARL, BRASS AND PEWTER-INLAID GREEN-STAINED HORN 'BOULLE MARQUETRY' TABLE

This rare table veneered in green stained horn inlaid with copper, pewter and mother-of-pearl belongs to a small group of tables à pieds en consoles produced in Paris by the same workshop, possibly that of Bernard Van Riesenburgh I, during the last years of Louis XIV’s reign and discussed by Calin Demetrescu in Les ébénistes de la Couronne sous le règne de Louis XIV, Lausanne, 2021. They all share the same shape derived from a so-called bureau mazarin with S-shaped legs end interlaced stretchers, overall decorated in marquetry using precious and exotic materials.

The first and probably earliest group among these tables, conceived circa 1695-1715, is decorated with floral marquetry with pewter inlays such as the able sold at Ader Tajan, Paris, 24 June 1992, lot 156; the other at Marc-Arthur Kohn, 19 November 1993.
The second group, to which the present table belongs, is decorated in ‘Boulle’ marquetry in première or seconde-partie using tortoiseshell or stained horn and metals forming arabesques. The top of these tables are centred with an oval depicting Venus on a chariot drawn by swans related to engravings by Daniel Marot (1661-1752). These tables include:
-a table in premiere-partie with red tortoiseshell background and pewter inlays, sold at Tajan, Paris, 3 April 1996, lot 129.
-a table in contre-partie with pewter background inlaid with red tortoiseshell and green-stained horn, sold at Tajan, 20 March 2000.
A third group, probably slightly later in date (circa 1710-20), can be recorded. These tables in Boulle marquetry are decorated with elaborated chinoiserie scenes and landscapes with polychrome inlays, including:
-a table in première-partie formerly in the collection baron Le Fèbvre and madame O’Rossen and subsequently sold from the collection Jean Rossignol, Artcurial, 13 December 2005, lot 114.
-another in contre-partie formerly in the collection of Boni et de Castellane and Ana Gould and subsequently sold from the collection of Howard Brighton Keck and Elizabeth A. Keck, Sotheby’s, New York, Sotheby’s, 5-6 December 1991, lot 31.

Other table of similar shapes and decoration are attributed to BVRB I are recorded including the example inlaid with a figure emblematic of America sold at Binoche et Giquello, Paris, 7 June 2013, lot 14; and a table from the collection of René Weiler and subsequently in the collection of George Farrow, sold at Sotheby’s, London, 19 May 1967, lot 182.
Father of the celebrated ébéniste Bernard II van Risenburgh, Bernard the Eldest came from Groene in Holland before settling in Paris in 1696 where he became Master ébéniste before 1722. He seems to have been specialised in the production of bracket clocks cases in Boulle marquetry as revealed by his inventory of his stock made in 1738 which only listed clocks. However, a corpus of more important pieces are now attributed to him including the bureau made for Elector Maximilien II Emmanuel of Bavaria, delivered after 1715 (discussed by Jean-Nérée Ronfort and Jean-Dominique Augarde in their article ‘Le Maître du bureau de l'Electeur’ L'Estampille, January 1991, pp. 42-74); or the commode delivered to Louis-Charles de Machault (1667-1750) sold at Christie’s, Paris, 16 December 2008, lot 11 similar to another commode part of the collection of Marquess of Bath, Longleat Castle, which bears the stamp ‘BVRB’, indicating it was completed by his son Bernard II.