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Lot Essay
This elegant bureau à cylindre is a rare example of the early work of the ébéniste Jean-François Leleu (1729-1807). With its transitional outline, floral-trellis parquetry, and ormolu features à la grecque, the bureau's distinctive combination of decoration and design is unique within Leleu’s output, which is traditionally known for its more austere forms.
RELATED EXAMPLES
This bureau is part of a small group, with three closely-related bureaux, recorded in both floral marquetry and parquetry. Two of these were part of the celebrated group of furniture delivered to Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé for the Palais Bourbon and the château de Chantilly between 1772 and 1779 (see S. Eriksen, Early neo-classicism in France, London, 1974, pp. 79-81, figs. 127-130). Amongst the works delivered, worth more than 60,000 livres in total, several pieces can be identified, including a pair of commodes delivered for the bedroom of the duchesse de Bourbon at the Palais Bourbon in 1773, now at Versailles (P. Arizzoli-Clementel, Versailles Furniture of the Royal Palace 17th and 18th Centuries, vol. II, Paris, 2002, pp.99-100, fig. 29).
Interestingly, the present bureau's ribbon-tied laurel surround to the cylinder is repeated on a further commode supplied for the bedroom of the Prince de Condé at the Palais Bourbon in 1772. Previously in the collection of the Princesse de Faucigny, the commode is now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre (see D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. 1, Paris, 1993, pp. 198-201, fig. 62). Of the bureaux à cylindre recorded in the commission, a related parquetry model decorated with a sunburst to the drawers was delivered for the Prince de Condé's salon rose at the Palais Bourbon for 4,760 livres in 1772 and is now held in a Parisian private collection (illustrated S. Eriksen, op.cit., p. 323, fig. 127; L’Estampille, L’objet d’art, no. 500, April 2014, p. 55).
A second model, featuring a flower-filled basket to the cylindre, was delivered for the Prince de Condé's Petit Cabinet at the Château de Chantilly in 1779 (Archives de Chantilly AB29), and subsequently sold Sotheby's Monaco, 16th June 1990, lot 943. A final model, virtually identical to the Chantilly bureau, was formerly in the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild and on view between 1948-1999 at the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna before sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 206 (illustrated P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIè Siècle, 1987, p. 329, fig. 363). Interestingly, the latter two bureaux also bear the name of the cabinet-maker Charles-Antoine Stadler, Leleu's son-in-law and sometime collaborator from 1780 (Archives Nationales Min. Cent. LXXXIX, 715).
The present example differs in shape from the above marquetry and parquetry bureaux à cylindre by means of its more sinuous outline to the apron and sides, cabriole legs and richly-gilt ormolu mounts swagged with laurel and cast with a Greek key motif. Conceived in the transitional style, it almost certainly supersedes the other three models which are executed in a full-blown Louis XVI manner. Perhaps the closest parallel to the present bureau can be drawn from two bureaux each adorned with twenty-six Sèvres porcelain plaques. The first model, in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, has fifteen plaques bearing the letter date for 1767 (illustrated S. M. Bennett and C. Sargentson, French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington, The Huntington Library, 2008, p. 84-7, cat. 18), whilst the second example, in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, contains plaques bearing the mark for both 1767 and 1768 (illustrated D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. 1, Paris, 1993, pp. 190-93, fig. 60). The Huntington and Louvre bureaux are of virtually identical form to the present example, and almost certainly were created during the same period as the offered lot.
LELEU AND POIRIER
Whilst the plaques on the Huntington and Louvre bureaux provide an essential clue to their date of execution, they also suggest the presence of a professional relationship during the late 1760s between Leleu and the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier (1720-1785). Poirier had a virtual monopoly on Sèvres porcelain plaques made for furniture, and presumably it was Poirier who delivered the fifty-two plaques to Leleu for the rolltop desks. It has been suggested the plaques to the bureaux may have formed part of the consignment of forty-four plaques Poirier bought in the second half of 1767, or were among the seventy-three plaques he purchased 1768 (Sargentson, op. cit., p. 86). Taking the apparent partnership between Leleu and Poirier into account, it is not inconceivable that the present lot was created as the result of a collaboration between by the marchand and the ébéniste. Despite rarely working for marchands, Leleu supplied furniture between 1770-71 for Madame du Barry's pleasure pavilion at Louveciennes, which was furnished through Poirier. Furthermore, a writing table by Leleu in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as a filing cabinet and clock in the Wallace Collection are traditionally considered to be made to the order of Poirier (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, vol. II, p. 920-929, fig. 190).
LELEU THE EBENISTE
Leleu, an ébéniste marqueteur was one of the favoured assistants in the workshop of the great ébéniste Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), who is traditionally credited with inventing the model of the cylinder rolltop desk. From 1760 until his death in 1763, Oeben worked on the celebrated rolltop bureau du roi, which was subsequently completed by his assistant Jean-Henri Riesener(1734-1806) and delivered to Versailles in 1769. After Oeben's early death, Leleu hoped to be entrusted with the running of the workshop, but was superseded by Riesener, who married Oeben's widow and went on to become the court ébéniste of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Leleu subsequently left the workshop, became maître-ébéniste in 1764 and set up his workshop in the Chaussée de la Contrescarpe, moving a few months later to the rue Royale. Leleu continued to work in his master’s style throughout the 1760s and 1770s and gained a reputation for making furniture with complex marquetry panels. As well as working extensively for the Prince de Condé, even making a marquetry floor for the Palais Bourbon, Leleu 's clientele also included the Duc d'Uzès, Baron d'Ivry and Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully.
RELATED EXAMPLES
This bureau is part of a small group, with three closely-related bureaux, recorded in both floral marquetry and parquetry. Two of these were part of the celebrated group of furniture delivered to Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé for the Palais Bourbon and the château de Chantilly between 1772 and 1779 (see S. Eriksen, Early neo-classicism in France, London, 1974, pp. 79-81, figs. 127-130). Amongst the works delivered, worth more than 60,000 livres in total, several pieces can be identified, including a pair of commodes delivered for the bedroom of the duchesse de Bourbon at the Palais Bourbon in 1773, now at Versailles (P. Arizzoli-Clementel, Versailles Furniture of the Royal Palace 17th and 18th Centuries, vol. II, Paris, 2002, pp.99-100, fig. 29).
Interestingly, the present bureau's ribbon-tied laurel surround to the cylinder is repeated on a further commode supplied for the bedroom of the Prince de Condé at the Palais Bourbon in 1772. Previously in the collection of the Princesse de Faucigny, the commode is now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre (see D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. 1, Paris, 1993, pp. 198-201, fig. 62). Of the bureaux à cylindre recorded in the commission, a related parquetry model decorated with a sunburst to the drawers was delivered for the Prince de Condé's salon rose at the Palais Bourbon for 4,760 livres in 1772 and is now held in a Parisian private collection (illustrated S. Eriksen, op.cit., p. 323, fig. 127; L’Estampille, L’objet d’art, no. 500, April 2014, p. 55).
A second model, featuring a flower-filled basket to the cylindre, was delivered for the Prince de Condé's Petit Cabinet at the Château de Chantilly in 1779 (Archives de Chantilly AB29), and subsequently sold Sotheby's Monaco, 16th June 1990, lot 943. A final model, virtually identical to the Chantilly bureau, was formerly in the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild and on view between 1948-1999 at the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna before sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 206 (illustrated P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIè Siècle, 1987, p. 329, fig. 363). Interestingly, the latter two bureaux also bear the name of the cabinet-maker Charles-Antoine Stadler, Leleu's son-in-law and sometime collaborator from 1780 (Archives Nationales Min. Cent. LXXXIX, 715).
The present example differs in shape from the above marquetry and parquetry bureaux à cylindre by means of its more sinuous outline to the apron and sides, cabriole legs and richly-gilt ormolu mounts swagged with laurel and cast with a Greek key motif. Conceived in the transitional style, it almost certainly supersedes the other three models which are executed in a full-blown Louis XVI manner. Perhaps the closest parallel to the present bureau can be drawn from two bureaux each adorned with twenty-six Sèvres porcelain plaques. The first model, in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, has fifteen plaques bearing the letter date for 1767 (illustrated S. M. Bennett and C. Sargentson, French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington, The Huntington Library, 2008, p. 84-7, cat. 18), whilst the second example, in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, contains plaques bearing the mark for both 1767 and 1768 (illustrated D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. 1, Paris, 1993, pp. 190-93, fig. 60). The Huntington and Louvre bureaux are of virtually identical form to the present example, and almost certainly were created during the same period as the offered lot.
LELEU AND POIRIER
Whilst the plaques on the Huntington and Louvre bureaux provide an essential clue to their date of execution, they also suggest the presence of a professional relationship during the late 1760s between Leleu and the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier (1720-1785). Poirier had a virtual monopoly on Sèvres porcelain plaques made for furniture, and presumably it was Poirier who delivered the fifty-two plaques to Leleu for the rolltop desks. It has been suggested the plaques to the bureaux may have formed part of the consignment of forty-four plaques Poirier bought in the second half of 1767, or were among the seventy-three plaques he purchased 1768 (Sargentson, op. cit., p. 86). Taking the apparent partnership between Leleu and Poirier into account, it is not inconceivable that the present lot was created as the result of a collaboration between by the marchand and the ébéniste. Despite rarely working for marchands, Leleu supplied furniture between 1770-71 for Madame du Barry's pleasure pavilion at Louveciennes, which was furnished through Poirier. Furthermore, a writing table by Leleu in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as a filing cabinet and clock in the Wallace Collection are traditionally considered to be made to the order of Poirier (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, vol. II, p. 920-929, fig. 190).
LELEU THE EBENISTE
Leleu, an ébéniste marqueteur was one of the favoured assistants in the workshop of the great ébéniste Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), who is traditionally credited with inventing the model of the cylinder rolltop desk. From 1760 until his death in 1763, Oeben worked on the celebrated rolltop bureau du roi, which was subsequently completed by his assistant Jean-Henri Riesener(1734-1806) and delivered to Versailles in 1769. After Oeben's early death, Leleu hoped to be entrusted with the running of the workshop, but was superseded by Riesener, who married Oeben's widow and went on to become the court ébéniste of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Leleu subsequently left the workshop, became maître-ébéniste in 1764 and set up his workshop in the Chaussée de la Contrescarpe, moving a few months later to the rue Royale. Leleu continued to work in his master’s style throughout the 1760s and 1770s and gained a reputation for making furniture with complex marquetry panels. As well as working extensively for the Prince de Condé, even making a marquetry floor for the Palais Bourbon, Leleu 's clientele also included the Duc d'Uzès, Baron d'Ivry and Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully.