PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
A LATE GUSTAVIAN GILT-BRONZE AND BRASS MOUNTED MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE, BY JOHAN FREDRIC WEJSSENBURG 1795
Auction Closed
November 12, 05:03 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 40,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property of a European Collector
A LATE GUSTAVIAN GILT-BRONZE AND BRASS MOUNTED MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE, BY JOHAN FREDRIC WEJSSENBURG 1795
with a slice of white marble on top of a long drawer and a fall front decorated with gilt brass frames, bordered at each extremity by two doric columns, opening to reveal a mirror above a drawer and flanked on either sides by two drawers and further five drawers, the writing surface lined with red leather inset, with a slide below and two long drawers, each side with a cupboard compartment, on tapered feet
140cm.. high, 110cm. wide, 57cm. deep, 4ft. 7in., 3ft. 7¼in., 1ft. 10½in.
Bukowskis, Stockholm, Auction 390, 1972, lot 329;
Bukowskis, Stockholm, Auction 574, May 2013, lot 408.
Stockholm, Sweden, Ten by Ten, 4-19 May 2018, CFHILL Art Space.
Torsten Sylvén, Mästarnas möbler, 1996, illustrated p. 364.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
H. Groth, Neoclassicism in the North, Swedish furniture and interiors 1770-1850, London, 1990, p.209, fig.22.
This elegant secretaire, of bold and well balanced design, was the 'masterpiece' submitted by Johan Fredric Wejssenburg to become a master of the cabinetmakers guild. While the secretaire epitomizes the neoclassical style developed in Sweden in the 1790s, it embodies one of the most important milestones in the career of the Swedish cabinet maker, Wejssenburg. Other than a pair of tables, this cabinet is the only example by the maker which has resurfaced on the market and is the best testament of Wejssenburg's impressive calibre. Wejssenburg's "masterpiece" is depicted in a drawing dated from 22 November 1794 (fig.1).
Any given cabinet maker desiring to progress from apprentice to master had to submit a furniture piece like the so-called 'masterpiece'. With a piece such as the present lot best showcasing his skills and knowledge, Wejssenburg was successfully received master on April 19, 1795.
Johan Fredric Wejssenburg (1764-1842)
Not much is known about the life and work of Johan Fredric Wejssenburg. Torsten Sylvén writes in his book: "Johan Fredric Wejssenburg produced furniture with a fine sense of style and with a highly developed professional expertise, characterizing Swedish furniture pieces at his time." His style emphasized grandeur, monumentality, and masculinity. Indeed, cabinet making in the late Gustavian era’s was characterized by rigor and architectural forms infused with neoclassical elements, here represented with the dentil band, the doric columns, the grey key pattern, paterae and masks. An example of a late Gustavian cabinet is illustrated in H.Groth, op.cit., p.209, fig.22 (Nordiska Museet, inv. no. 93288).