France, Paris, circa 1875

This extraordinary bureau plat combines two great traditions of decorative arts in Europe, merging the great Parisian ébénisterie with the skilled craftsmanship of marble and pietre dure inlaid that Florence developed to extraordinary heights. Emulating a bureau model of the great Charles Cressent, this piece was embellished with a large panel as a top of pietre dure with a floral and fruit arrangement, in the manner of Jacopo Ligozzi who supplied the granducal workshops with naturalistic drawings in the 17^th century. The sides are also enriched with carved hardstones, a taste established by Giovanni Battista Foggini, director of the workshops of the Galleria dei Lavori.

There are three other identical bureaux known, two of which are stamped by Mathieu Béfort. One is in the Gilbert Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum  (now on loan to Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, see https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157854/table/) and was the table that Sir Arthur Gilbert, the legendary collector of hardstones, worked on a daily basis. The other stamped bureau was sold by Christie’s New York, 22 Oct 2010, lot 635 (US74,500). Another identical bureau was sold by Christie’s London, 20 Sep 2012 lot 59 (£49,250) making the present lot a recent discovery and an exciting addition to this group.

Mathieu Béfort (1813-1880), also known as Béfort Jeune, comes from a renowned dynasty of cabinet makers and bronziers beginning as early as 1817. He lived at 1 and 6 rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles in Paris from 1844 to 1880, and received a medal at the 1844 Exposition des produits de l'industrie français. Mathieu was the son of Jean-Baptiste Béfort (1783-1840), who was of Belgian origin and renowned for having supplied furniture for the apartments of the Duc d'Orléans. His older brother, Bernard Béfort, was active between 1836 and 1858. After his brother, Mathieu took over the family business until 1878. As a gifted ébéniste-marqueteur, he specialized in Boulle-style marquetry, in particular on high quality works inspired by the work of André-Charles-Boulle himself, but also occasionally incorporating hardstone panels, as seen in the present lot.