TRANSITION PERIOD CUPBOARD BASE Stamped by Jean-François Oeben In rosewood veneer, myrtle and floral marquetry on a sycamore base, chased and gilded bronze ornamentation, violet brèche marble top, the waist opening into three drawers, the central one forming a sliding writing desk, the front revealing a sliding shelf and opening into two slatted leaves at the bottom, resting on a plinth with an openwork cut-out, stamped J.F.OEBEN on the four uprights. H. 84 cm (33 in.) l. 115 cm (45 ¼ in.) P. 44 cm (17¼ in.) Jean-François Oeben, master in 1761 Provenance: André Seligmann, Paris ; Christie's New York sale, 1 November 1989, lot 131. Bibliography: R. Stratmann, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, p. 56 (illustrated), p.147 (note 183), and p. 175 cat. 45. A Transitional gilt-bronze mounted, tulipwood, mirtle, sycamore and floral marquetry bas d'armoire, stamped by Jean-François Oeben In the early 1760s, Jean-François Oeben developed a system for opening his furniture by means of slatted curtains sliding along the sides on a kind of cylindrical track. These are described in the inventory of his workshop in 1763 as "cylinder doors" or "sliding doors". They can be found on chests of drawers (Sale in Paris, Palais Galliéra, 29 November 1976, no. 253), as well as on flap secretaries (Musée du Louvre OA 5166-67; coll. Wernher, Lutton Hoo and former coll. de Choiseul). On all these pieces of furniture, the mostly geometric decoration continues, ignoring the vertical division of the lamellae. The system was used to form a horizontal cylinder with slats on a small desk made for Mme de Pompadour around 1760-1763, now in the Musée Nissim de Camondo (INV. CAM 191), then in the form of a rigid semicircle on the King's desk at the Château de Versailles and on the bureau du comte d'Orsay in the Wallace collection. Oeben's output was extremely varied. In addition to chests of drawers and corner cabinets, he invented all sorts of tables with mechanisms, which the 1763 inventory lists under sometimes fanciful names ("sliding tables", "mignonettes", "lectern tables", "sliding tables", "Burgundy tables", "candlestick tables", "heart toilet tables"). When it came to secretaries, he not only produced beautiful models with flaps - almost always in geometric marquetry and in pairs - but also varied the shapes, inventing "secretaire cupboards" (the inside of which contained small drawers and a medallion box), "double-tiered secretaries" (the ancestors of the bonheur du jour), and "spring secretaries" or "Burgundy secretaries"; And above all, by inventing cylinder secretaries, which were to take the place of sloping secretaries and make them disappear in the next generation. The piece of furniture shown here resembles the lower part of the secretaries, from which it differs by the upper drawer divided into three and above all by its floral marquetry (instead of the geometrical marquetry of almost all flap secretaries). Oeben produced a cabinet base of the same type, with doors and numerous small drawers inside (cf. R. Stratmann, ibid., p.57). The fine marquetry panels depicting bunches of flowers tied with ribbons are strikingly naturalistic and are directly inspired by plates engraved by Louis Tessier (cf. R. Stratmann, ibid., p.50,58) or motifs drawn by Maurice Jacques, artists who both lived near Oeben at the Gobelins. They can be found on various pieces of furniture by Riesener, who took over the management of Oeben's workshop between 1763, the date of Oeben's death, and 1768, the date of his admission to the master's degree. *Information for buyers: The auction is exclusive of VAT. VAT at the reduced rate of 5.5% applies to the auction. This VAT is recoverable for French professionals. It is refundable for a buyer from outside the EU on presentation of proof of export from the EU or for a professional buyer with an intra-Community VAT number and a document proving delivery in the Member State. *Information to the buyers : The hammer price and premium will be VAT excluded. 5.5% VAT will be added to the hammer price and premium. Upon request, this VAT can be refunded to the purchaser on presentation of written proof of exportation outside EU, or to the EU purchaser who will submit his intracommunity VAT number and a proof of shipment to an EU country.