Decorator, Furniture, Les Collections, Celebres, D'Oeuvres D'Art, Meuble XVI Siecle, Musee du Lourve, Donation Sauvageot, Plate 18, 1864

Date: 1864

Engraver: Delatre

Published by Goupil and Co, Editors, in Paris

Paper Size: 445 x 305mm

Print Size: 225 x 155mm

Condition: Good

Technique: Copperplate Engraving, later hand colouring

Price: $200

Description: 

A plain oak top, with its five-sided cut leaning on a sixth long side that follows the bottom, evokes the exact idea of ​​the entire piece of furniture in its special shape. The draftsman had to pay particular attention to the detail of the front part, the richest in reality, and this is what he did in the plate that we give here. The body of the piece of furniture is divided into two unequal parts by a series of moldings. The lower part, which is the least important, is decorated with foliage and light ornaments, while each panel of the upper part (except one) has received a finely carved head in its center. These figures appear to us to be those of Jesus Christ & the four evangelists. One will notice with audacious & legitimate disdain for gloomy symmetry, the medallion of the middle panel has been moved from its center to make room on the left for a very simple lock, but of an ingenious design. This leaf is held by two flat iron hinges, cut & blackened, so as to leave all their brilliance to the gold highlights applied to certain moldings & to some of the ornaments, such as the tendrils of the panels & the palmettes of the uprights joined at the intersection of the five sides. This beautiful piece of furniture appears in the catalog of the Louvre, written by M. Sauzay, under number B. 94