A Pair of French Gilt-Bronze Mounted Ebonised Meubles d'Appui by Mathieu Béfort

A pair of French gilt-bronze mounted ebonised meubles d'appui, by Mathieu Béfort dit Béfort Jeune. 

Each has a vert maurin marble top above a cupboard door applied with large oval gilt-bronze medallions depicting Hercules and Orpheus, opening to an interior fitted with an adjustable shelf, each twice stamped 'BEFORT JEUNE', and mounts marked 'BJ'

French, Circa 1850.

The two gilt-bronze oval medallions represent Orpheus in Hades and Hercules Chaining Cerberus and are after a design attributed to Augustin Pajou (1730–1809), the pair of are a type recorded to decorate a single cabinet at the Hôtel de Voyer d’Argenson as drawn by Sir William Chambers in 1769. 

Mathieu Befort

Mathieu Befort, (known as Befort Jeune), (1813-1880) is recorded as having worked in Paris at 1 rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles from 1836 to 1866 and later moving to No.6, residing there until 1880.  He descended from a family of renowned ébénistes and was the son of Jean-Baptiste Befort, called Befort Père. Father and son are noted for their interpretations of furniture by André Charles Boulle and the creation of vernis matin and porcelain mounted furniture often in the manner of Riesener.  He was a brother of Bernard Befort, ebeniste-marqueteur and 'antiquaire' and like him, specialised in 'Meubles de Boulle'. The firm received a medal at the 1844 Exposition de l'Industrie Française. 

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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