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A RARE GERMAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED MOTHER-OF-PEARL, GREEN AND GILT PAINTED SILVER FOIL, ROSEWOOD AND BOIS SATINE BUREAU DE PENTE ATTRIBUTED TO FRANZ ZELLER, CIRCA 1750-60 Of bombe form, applied overall with mother of pearl and green and gilt painted embossed silver foil depicting foliate sprays outlined in yellow, the serpentine top with C-scroll, rocaille and flowering foliate repoussé shoulder mounts, centred by a conforming clasp, the drop-front framed by a rocaille border opening to reveal a green velvet-lined writing surface within a rosewood border, flower engraved ormolu hinges and lock back-plate, and an arrangement of six-drawers, one fitted with an inkwell, centred by a mirrored back above a sliding compartment enclosing a secret drawer, the shaped frieze with two drawers, on cabriole legs headed by pierced foliate-cast chutes and terminating in rocaille and cabochon sabots; a few losses to the mother of pearl veneers 37 ? in. (95.2 cm.) high; 31 ? in. (80.5 cm.) wide; 17 ? in. (45 cm.) deep
Furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl is among the most intricate, precious and rare. This jewel-like German Rococo ormolu-mounted bureau de pente, applied all-over with plaques of opalescent mother-of-pearl combined with polychrome-painted silver foil, is part of a unique group of three pieces similarly decorated; the other two are small commodes. Probably made in South Germany in the mid-1750s by Franz Zeller (1697-1780), court cabinet-maker to the Electors of the Palatinate, celebrated for his skill in tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl marquetry, this distinctive group is the only furniture of this type and date known to have survived although a later mother-of-pearl encased secrétaire à cylindre was supplied by the Parisian ébéniste Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) in 1786 for Marie-Antoinette’s boudoir at the chateau de Fontainebleau (1). The closest comparable within the group to this bureau de pente is a commode with virtually identical mounts known as the ‘Peacock feather commode’ because of its painted silver foil decoration and colouring. It was almost certainly acquired by William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1682-1760), for Schloss Wilhelmstahl in Calden, where it remains today. The present bureau de pente may have been purchased at the same time, and was probably intended to be en suite.
THE RELATED COMMODES FROM WILHELMSTAHL AND MANNHEIM
The ‘Peacock feather commode’ from Schloss Wilhelmstahl with near-identical mounts is dated circa 1755. It is recorded in the ‘Kabinett des Landgrafen’ at Wilhelmstahl in the 1788 inventory as: Eine Pariser Comode auf 4 Füssen ruhend, so durchaus mit Perlemot grünlicher Couleur in zinnern Einfass in Form von Pfauen Federn eingelegt, mit zwey Schubladen versehen, messing vergoldeten Beschl?gen und reichen Zierrathen von dergl. Laubwerck und Blumen ornirt, worauf eine bl?ulich marmorne Platte [A Parisian commode on four legs, with mother-of-pearl and green painted peacock feathers inlay, with two drawers, ormolu foliate and floral mounts surmounted by a bluish marble top] (2). Interestingly, this commode is immediately followed in the inventory by a green-painted writing-desk with ormolu mounts, and feasibly this rather sparse entry is describing the present bureau de pente: Ein grün angestrichener Schreibtisch mit vergoldeten Leisten, auf 4 geschweiften Füssen mit drey Schubladen und messingen vergoldeten faconnirten Beschlag, oben auf dem Blatt mit schwarzen Leder bezogen. Auf diesem Schreibtisch ein dergl. Aufsatz zu Schreibmaterialien und Büchern mit drey Schubladen [A green painted writing-desk with three drawers (the third drawer probably referring to the drop down top) and gilt mounts, on four cabriole legs, the hinged writing surface lined with black leather. On the writing-desk a configuration for stationary and books] (3). In 1926, the commode was illustrated still in situ i