A Louis XVI Ormolu-Mounted, Brass and Ebony Inlaid Mahogany Secretaire A Abattant Attributed to Guillaume Beneman. Circa 1785

A Louis XVI Ormolu-Mounted, Brass and Ebony Inlaid Mahogany Secretaire A Abattant Attributed to Guillaume Beneman. Circa 1785.

Inlaid overall with brass and ebony banding, the eared rectangular bleu turquin marble top above a panelled frieze drawer mounted with winged caryatides around the central escutcheon and cherubs holding the drapery handles, the hinged fall-front headed by a foliate mount and enclosing a fitted interior with two shelves above a deep drawer flanked to either side by two rows of three drawers, above a green leather-lined writing surface, the lower section with a pair of doors enclosing a plain interior with a shelf, flanked by entasised fluted columns with Ionic capitals, the panelled sides flanked by conforming columns, on turned toupie feet with engine-turned sabots.

A secrétaire of very similar design with several identical mounts including columns with Ionic capitals and having the same mounts on the doors and fall was acquired by Baron Meyer Amschel de Rothschild, for Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire. In the Mentmore sale of 1977 it is illustrated as Lot 500 with an attribution to J.H.Riesener.

Provenance:

Wildenstein collection.

Guillaume Beneman, maître in 1785.

In 1785, this then relatively unknown ebeniste was chosen to succeed Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) as main supplier to the Royal family, as part of a concentrated attempt to reduce Court expenditure.  Having previously worked in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the Paris parish, where free craftsmen were allowed to exercise their profession without interference from the Guilds, Beneman swiftly became maitre-ebeniste in 1785, the Guild being forced by the police to waive all costs and duties, and in 1786 the court paid for the equipment of his workshop and hired a considerable number of assistants for him. 

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance