A Louis XIV chinoiserie Boulle cabinet on a later stand late 17th/early 18th century, the remounted panels 19th century

the cabinet with a stepped molded cornice re-mounted with an ormolu border above an arrangement of four long and six small panelled and glazed drawers flanking a central cupboard door opening to reveal an architectural interior decorated in the manner of Bérain, backed with a later mirror and verre églomisé panels; all the panels mounted with 19th century lacquered paper decorated with chinoiserie motifs incorporating birds, figures, animals and trees; each glazed panel with traces of the original 17th century verre églomisé, mother-of-pearl and aventurine decoration; the associated stand with two verre églomisé tapered supports surmounted by a gilt-metal male term figure and joined by a platform stretcher with verre églomisé panel.

By repute, the 2nd Duke of Westminster

Mademoiselle Coco Chanel, rue Cambon, Paris and later in Lausanne, Switzerland

Galerie Kugel, Paris

Private Collection, Paris from October 1977 until sold, Sotheby's, London, June 13, 1997, lot 8

The carcass of the cabinet is of late 17th century origin, the laquered paper panels of the drawers, the sides and the lower back are of 19th century origin, made to recreate the effect of the original 17th century verre églomisé decoration amidst areas glued with mother-of-pearl and aventurine, only traces of which remain on the original thick glass.  The designs, however, faithfully follow the originals.  The gilt-metal decoration was most probably added at the same time in the 19th century.

The European taste for chinoiserie ornament developed from the mid-17th century.  In around 1644 the Dutch sent a mission to China for trade and diplomatic purposes; this mission included Johann Neuhoff who acted as steward to the ambassadors.  Neuhoff executed copious sketches during his stay in China which, upon his return to Holland, were converted to a celebrated series of engravings in the book Het Gezantschap der Neerlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie published in 1665 in Leyden.  A number of the panels decorating the present cabinet are based upon Neuhoff's engravings; these include the coconut palm tree on the central door; the elephant on the large side panel on the right; the rhinoceros on the same right side panel, and  the Chinese woman on the top left small drawer.  The scene of the fighting dragon and the tiger on the right panel of the stand is derived from Anthanasius Kircher's China monumentis qua sacris qua profanis ..., Amsterdam, 1667, p. 171.

In the 19th century there was a great revival of interest in Boulle-type furniture and it was highly prized by collectors.  The English dealer Edward Holmes Baldock who counted amongst his clients King George IV and the Duke of Buccleuch was certainly involved in the restoration and reconstruction of old Boulle-type furniture to which he would add his own distinctive gilt-metal mounts such as the acanthus leaf-cast molding on the present piece.  The possibliity that this piece was restored and recreated in the 19th century in England reinforces the possiblity that it had been in the collections of the Dukes of Westminster.

COCO CHANEL (1883-1971)

The legendary Coco Chanel was well-known to have a passion for Chinese art "There's something compelling and irrevocable about it that appealed to me. Screens were the first thing that I ever bought.  You don't come across them in the provinces of course.  I'd never seen anything like it.  The people I knew were more likely to buy a store-cupboard for sheets dried in the sun" (Claude Baillen, Chanel-Solitaire, 1971). 

In her apartment on the rue Cambon in Paris, Coco Chanel amassed an eclectic and elegant collection of furniture, crystal chandeliers and no less than 32 Asian lacquer screens.  She never actually slept in her apartment, preferrring her suite at the Ritz Hotel, but she used it as her base where she would hold court and entertain her illustrious friends and clients.  She had a long friendship with the Duke of Westminster who reputedly gave her the present cabinet.

In 1939 Chanel moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, abandoning haute couture and she took the present cabinet with her where it was later acquired by the Paris dealer Kugel.