Thomas Moore
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Lot 56TP
A Regency rosewood and brass 'buhl' (or Boulle) marquetry card table Circa 1820, possibly by Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur
13 – 14 July 2022, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £16,575 inc. premium
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A Regency rosewood and brass 'buhl' (or Boulle) marquetry card table
Circa 1820, possibly by Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur
With premiere and contrepartie inlay, the swivel hinged top and octagonal column each inlaid with chevron surrounds and 'Greek-key' type borders, the top with conforming edging, enclosing a red baize playing surface, with a mahogany interior, above a scrolled foliate frieze, on an octagonal column with similar inlay interspersed by foliate spray pendants, the column joined by an X-form support comprised of four large S-scrolls, the concave quadripartite base inlaid with stylised foliage and surmounted by four honeysuckle and rosette inlaid scrolled corbels, terminating in gilt bronze scrolled and stiff-leaf hipped hairy lion paw feet, 97cm wide x 54cm deep x 73cm high, (38in wide x 21in deep x 28 1/2in high)
With premiere and contrepartie inlay, the swivel hinged top and octagonal column each inlaid with chevron surrounds and 'Greek-key' type borders, the top with conforming edging, enclosing a red baize playing surface, with a mahogany interior, above a scrolled foliate frieze, on an octagonal column with similar inlay interspersed by foliate spray pendants, the column joined by an X-form support comprised of four large S-scrolls, the concave quadripartite base inlaid with stylised foliage and surmounted by four honeysuckle and rosette inlaid scrolled corbels, terminating in gilt bronze scrolled and stiff-leaf hipped hairy lion paw feet, 97cm wide x 54cm deep x 73cm high, (38in wide x 21in deep x 28 1/2in high)
Footnotes
Related furniture to the present lot includes: a small 'Buhl' inlaid centre table attributed to Louis Le Gaigneur which sold Sotheby's, London, 20 September 2011, Fine Furniture, lot 217; a brass inlaid rosewood centre table, dated circa 1820, which sold Sotheby's, London, 12 November 2019, Style: Private Collections, lot 17; a rosewood and brass inlaid sofa table, circa 185, sold Christie's, London, 19 January 2021, Apter-Fredericks: 75 Years of Important English Furniture, lot 85; and an important writing table attributed to Le Gaigneur, from circa 1815, features on the website for David Foord-Brown Antiques.
This marvellous card table is typical of the revived taste for 'Buhl' or Boulle furniture among the wealthy and fashionable elite in Britain of the 1820s, as favoured by such influential collectors as the Prince Regent, later to become George IV, and William Beckford (1760-1844). The demand for 'Buhl', as it was then known, was provided for by various antiquarian dealers based in London who not only dealt in old furniture but would also adapt 18th century Boulle pieces, or even make examples in the Boulle style.
Such dealers and cabinet makers included Louis Constantin le Gaigneur, who described himself as a 'French Buhl Manufacturer' and worked predominantly for the Prince Regent and his circle (a pair of Louis XIV-style 'Boulle' bureaux plats were delivered to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton in 1815, RCIN 35289). Another figure producing similar 'Buhl' inlaid furniture at that period was Thomas Parker of Air St., Piccadilly, who in 1813 supplied a pair of Boulle marquetry coffers-on-stands to the Prince Regent, which remain in the Royal Collection (RCIN 21624).
The cabinet maker Louis Le Gaigneur established his 'Buhl' Manufactory at 19 Queen Street, Edgware Road, circa 1815, and from there specialised in brass inlaid furniture in the then newly revived Louis XIV style. His clients included such important and prominent figures as the Prince Regent and the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, and library tables bearing Le Gaigneur's signature remain at Windsor Castle and the Wallace Collection.