A Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marquetry Cabinet-On-Stand

Object Description

A Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marquetry Cabinet-On-Stand, Attributed to Emmanuel Zwiener, Paris.

The bombé shaped cabinet surmounted by a domed pediment. The cupboard door with bois de bout floral marquetry within a gilt-bronze foliate frame. The sides with quarter-veneered panels. The cupboard interior fitted with an arrangement of drawers beneath a shelf. The apron fronted by a pull-out writing slide. The leg angles headed by gilt-bronze sculptural busts of soldiers which are known as ‘têtes des guerriers antiques’. The cabriole legs joined by a platform tier and panelled back.

France, Circa 1890.

Object History

The Zwiener brothers Emmanuel and Julius produced some of the most innovative luxury furniture of the late 19th century. They developed a unique style which blended the florid high rococo of the Louis XV period with contemporary Art Nouveau influences, employing the sculptor Léon Messagé who is credited with creating the naturalistic rococo designs for which Zwiener was awarded a Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. Léon Messagé also designed exhibition pieces for Zwiener’s contemporary, François Linke, and it has been speculated that Linke may have worked for Zwiener when he first arrived in Paris in 1875. Therefore it is unsurprising that there are so many stylistic similarities between the furniture of Zwiener and Linke or that they are the most prized and famous Parisian ébénistes of the Belle Époque.

Object Literature

Mestdagh, Camille & Lécoules, Pierre. L’Ameublement d’art français : 1850-1900, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 2010; pp. 301-305.

Payne, Christopher. François Linke, 1855-1946, The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Antique Collectors’ Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2003.

Meyer, Jonathan. Great Exhibitions – London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, 1851-1900, Antique Collectors’ Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2006; p. 270, pls. H14; p. 299, p.302.

D. Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ébénistes du XIXe Siècle, (Paris), 1984, pp. 645-648.

Object Details