A SOUTH GERMAN CUT BRASS, PEWTER, MOTHER-OF-PEARL, IVORY AND TORTOISESHELL-INLAID ROSEWOOD BONHEUR-DU-JOUR

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THE PROPERTY OF A FAMILY TRUST (Lots 128-130)

A SOUTH GERMAN CUT BRASS, PEWTER, MOTHER-OF-PEARL, IVORY AND TORTOISESHELL-INLAID ROSEWOOD BONHEUR-DU-JOUR

BY FRANZ XAVIER FORTNER, MID-19TH CENTURY

Details

A SOUTH GERMAN CUT BRASS, PEWTER, MOTHER-OF-PEARL, IVORY AND TORTOISESHELL-INLAID ROSEWOOD BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
BY FRANZ XAVIER FORTNER, MID-19TH CENTURY
Surmounted by a scrolled inlaid pediment above two doors and drawers centred with inlaid decoration depicting Diana and Acteon figures within foliate cartouches and enclosing an interior fitted with two shelves, flanked by outset scrolled corbels, the lower part with a hinged serpentine top concealing a well, above a shaped stretcher, inlaid with flowers, scrolls and shells; stamped Fortner, the lock-plate to the folding top engraved Ferdinand Gropius/in Berlin
66 in. (167.5 cm.) high; 39½ in. (100 cm.) deep; 26¾ in. (68 cm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 17 March 1989, lot 353 (£15,400).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Franz Xavier Fortner (1798-1877) started his workshop in Munich in 1826 and by 1842 employed thirty apprentices. As well as making pieces for export to France, Great Britain and St. Petersburg, Fortner exhibited at the International Exhibitions and was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria to make pieces for the Schloss Hohenschwangau and the Leuchtenberg Palace.

This cabinet is conceived in the South German 'Boulle' revival style and is generously decorated with the intricate inlay of semi-precious materials for which Fortner was famed. An impressive hanging-pipe cabinet made by Fortner in 1844, now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, has a shaped pediment of this form and is decorated with very similar polychrome marquetry.

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