A Louis XIV varnished bronze mounted ebony, brass, tinted horn, mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell Boulle marquetry commode, circa 1710

Related literature :

P. Grand, « Le mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l’époque », L’Objet d’Art, February 1993

C. Demetrescu, Les ébénistes de la Couronne sous le règne de Louis XIV, Lausanne, 2021

This commode belongs to a large group with many similarities both in form and in the often very rich composition of the inlaid decoration and gilt-bronze ornamentation. Our commode is more likely to belong to the production that should be linked to a Parisian workshop, although it cannot be identified with certainty as the characteristics we would like to isolate are so intertwined. Numerous workshops worked in the same vein as Noël Gérard's, although the connections and interactions have not been established. Nicolas Sageot's workshop, for example, produced a number of very similar commodes whose authorship can be identified a priori by the presence of the N.S. stamp.

The commodes may have three or four rows of drawers, and the tops are rounded at the front or angular at the back. The decoration is directly inspired by the compositions of Jean Bérain, with foliage, arabesques, garlands, figures and animals, trellis reserves and a central cartouche depicting a hunting scene or mythological subjects. The materials used are a mixture of copper and pewter, various types of wood and the animal materials generally used at the time: mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell and tinted horn.

Comparable commodes belonging to the Nicolas Sageot group include those stamped N. S. :

-stamped commode, former Duke of Newcastle collection, Clumber Park, Christie's London sale, 11 December 1999, lot 50

-stamped commode, Christie's Exceptional sale, London, 5 July 2018, lot 124

-attributed commode, Greenberg collection, Sotheby's New York sale, 21 May 2004, lot 27

Another group of commodes has the particularity of having a top with an identical design apart from the central cartouche:

-the commode formerly attributed to Aubertin Gaudron, sold by Christie's New York, 21 October 1997, lot 31 (rabbit hunting scene)

-the commode sold by Christie's in London on 22 June 1989, lot 119 (circular cartouche with interlaced Ls).

-our commode (cartouche with an allegory of Time).

-the commode sold by Sotheby's in Monaco on 16 June 1990, lot 837 (rabbit hunting scene)