A FRENCH ORMOLU AND WEDGWOOD-MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND EBONY SIDE CABINET

The present lot is a faithful and exquisitely executed reproduction of a cabinet by Etienne Avril (1748-1796) now at the Château de Fontainebleau. The model was copied by Beurdeley and exhibited at the 1880 Exposition de l’Union Centrale des Beaux Arts appliqués à l’Industrie in Paris. After the closure of Beurdeley’s workshop one was sold in the vente Beurdeley, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6-9 May 1895, lot 332. It was bought by Denière, most probably the famous bronze maker and dealer, for 1550 francs. Another can be seen in a photograph of the salon des dessins at the Beurdeley hôtel particulier at rue de Clichy, Paris, circa 1910 (see C. Mestdagh and P. Lécoules, L'Ameublement d'art français: 1850-1900, Paris, 2010, fig. 174, p.156). Examples of the model have sold from The Beurdeley Collection; Bonhams, London, lot 168 (stamped ‘A. BEURDELEY A PARIS’); and at Wapler, Paris, 3 July 1996, lot 592 (a matched pair, apparently unsigned).