

PROPERTY OF THE GUINNESS TRUSTS AND COLLECTIONS
This impressive bureau plat was acquired by Loel and Gloria Guinness for their extraordinary Parisian apartment at 18 avenue Matignon, which was decorated by the celebrated interior designer Georges Geffroy in the mid-1950s.
Riesener supplied the Royal Household with furniture between 1774 and 1784 and the present lot embodies the qualities for which he was widely acclaimed, namely the exceptional standard of his craftsmanship and the beautifully refined and restrained lines of his designs.
Made in circa 1780, this bureau plat is an example of ‘le goût Anglais’ which swept through French cabinet making of the period, influencing makers such as Weisweiler, Canabas, Pierre Garnier and of course, Riesener. Here we see it manifested in his employment of acajou moucheté as the principal timber - or 'plum-pudding' mahogany to use the English term - which, together with the understated arrangement of gilt-bronze mounts and simple mouldings used outline the architectural qualities of the design, all serve to create a beautifully understated piece of great quality.
A related example by Riesener can be found in the collection of the Musée Nissim de Camondo (illustrated Sylvie Legrand-Rossi, Le Mobilier du Musée Nissim de Camondo, Dijon, 2012, p. 114).