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BY BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH, CIRCA 1763-1770, THE LACQUER LATE 17TH CENTURY The commode with eared breakfront Portor marble top above a frieze with tied berried laurel branches, above three doors panelled with Japanese black and gold lacquer, the central panel depicting a children playing blind man's bluff in a palace garden, flanked by two narrower panels with buildings in mountain river landscapes, in a channelled matted frames with foliate clasps, the interior of the doors veneered with tulipwood framed by purpleheart, the sides similarly decorated with mountain landscape, the angles surmounted by bold foliate volutes chutes, above a plinth decorated with a gadrooned moulding, lozenges and roundels, centred by a zoomorphic mask apron, on acanthus scrolling feet; stamped 'B.V.R.B.' twice and 'JME' four times; with a small blue edged label inscribed 'N°1'; the back right sabot possibly an old replacement 36 ? in. (93.5 cm.) high; 64 ? in. (163.5 cm.) wide; 23 ? in. (59 cm.) deep
Bernard II van Risenburgh, ma?tre in 1730.
These impressive and early neo-classical commodes and encoigures stamped BVRB are inlaid with Japanese lacquer panels of the highest quality and mounted with finely chased ‘go?t grec’ ormolu mounts. United by Baron Maurice de Rothschild (1881-1957), they were part of special commissions by highly fastidious patrons, including the financier Armand-Fréderic Nogaret (1734-1806). They were almost certainly supplied by one of the foremost marchands-merciers, such as Simon-Philippe Poirier or Fran?ois Darnault.
BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
The commodes and encoignures bear the stamp used by the famous Bernard II van Risenburgh (after 1696-c. 1766) and also by his son, Bernard III, who never became ma?tre-ébéniste but worked on in his father's workshop when this was being managed by Bernard II's widow. In 1764, Bernard II, whose health was failing, sold his workshop to his son. Very little is known about Bernard III who seems to have had a short but brillant career as ébéniste. However, there are a number of very fine pieces in the neo-classical style bearing the stamp 'B.V.R.B' that are usually attributed to him. The present commodes and encoignures form a highly important addition to this small group of 'BVRB III' pieces.
LACQUER COMMODES BY BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
Included among the stock sold by Bernard II van Risenburgh to his son in 1764 were deux batis de commodes à l'Antique sur l'un desquels sont commencés à monter les cadres des portes et coté et les moulures du haut et bas en cuivre (T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, vol. I, New York 1992, p. 302). These are generally thought to have been of a neo-classical model that retains some curved features harking back to the earlier Louis XV style. A number of such pieces bearing Bernard van Risenburgh's stamp, all mounted with Japanese lacquer, are known, including an almost identical commode in the Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (C.C. Dauterman a.o., Decorative art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, London, 1964, No. 10), a pair of smaller ones in the Frick Collection (Dell, op. cit., pp. 294-313). The ‘Westminster commode’, sold at Christie’s, London, 9 December 2004, lot 100, was executed in BVRB’s workshop in a more aggressive neo-classical appearance, with heavy swags and satyr masks, which would indicate it has a slightly later dating. They are generally attributed to BVRB III, although judging from the description in the stock inventory, their model had already begun to be produced while Bernard II was still involved with the workshop. Lacquer-mounted commodes in the rococo style had from the 1730s been among the father's most prized works. It is conceivable that the model for the Rothschild ensemble, which in its form retains some curved lines and scrolling f