A Fine Louis XV Style Japanned Side Cabinet, By Henri Nelson, Paris

A Fine Louis XV Style Gilt-bronze Mounted Japanned Side Cabinet, With A Breche D'Alep Marble Top, By Henri Nelson, Paris.  

Stamped to the carcass 'H. Nelson'.

This elegant side cabinet is of shallow break front form, with a moulded breche d'Alep marble top above a cavetto moulded frieze with gilt-bronze acanthus clasps and four cupboard doors, each  inset with Japanned lacquer panels depicting palace scenes and figures within a stylised landscape; the cabinet is raised on six short acanthus wrapped feet.   

The celebrated Parisian ébéniste Henri Nelson (1870 – 1920) succeeded his father, Jean-Henri Nelson, in 1856 when he took over their workshop at 46, rue de la Madelaine. He moved the business to 79, boulevard Haussmann, and then to 2, rue Tronson-du-Coudray before ultimately settling at 27, rue Pasquier in 1879. Nelson was known for producing meubles de luxe created in the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles.

He exhibited at several Expositions Universelles, most notably at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle where he exhibited as a ‘décorateur’ and was awarded a gold medal for the high quality of his work. He also exhibited at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition in London where he recreated a Louis XVI style room, and the 1911 Universal Exhibition in Turin. The firm is one of very few 19th Century ébénistes to continue to produce furniture into the 21st Century.

Christopher Payne in his book Paris Furniture notes that one of the possibly unique features of Nelson's oeuvre was the frequent use of a sculptural mount of a putto seated on a winged globe timepiece, which appears on several of his works.

French, Circa 1900.

Bibliography:
Mestdagh, Camille & Lécoules, Pierre. L'Ameublement d'Art Français, 1850-1900, Les Editions de L'Amateur, (Paris), 2010 ; p. 199.

Ledoux-Lebard, Denise. Les Ebénistes du XIX siècle, Les Editions de l'Amateur, (Paris), 1984; p. 508.

Payne, Christopher, Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, Editions Monelle Hayot (Saint-Remy-en-l'Eau), 2018; p.43, 137, 482.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number