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Adrian Alan
MAISON MOTTHEAU ET FILS
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A Fine Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Commode à Vantaux after a Model by Benneman and Stockel, the Mounts by Maison Mottheau et Fils
Height 100 cm / 39 in.
The gilt-bronze mounts stamped to the reverse ‘EM’ for Maison Mottheau et Fils. Inscribed in pencil to the carcass on the underside of the top with the date 1898.
Width 187 cm / 73 in. Depth 71 cm / 28 in. Ref: B59875
French, Dated 1898. The eighteenth century model this commode is based on was designed by Stockel and Benneman for Marie-Antoinette for the Salon des Jeux at Fontainebleau.
Guillaume Benneman, chief ébéniste to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette from 1786 to 1792, was influential in introducing a more disciplined neo-classical approach to furniture design, with emphasis on pure outlines and architectural references that were to predominate under the Consulat and Empire. For a biography of Maison Mottheau see the Appendix. Literature: Kjellberg, Pierre (1998), Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Les Editions De L’Amateur, Paris; p. 57. Nicolay, Jean (1982), L’Art et la Manière des Maîtres Ébénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, Éditions Pygmalion, Paris; p. 49.
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