A Pair of Pedestals Attributed to Joseph Cremer

Object Description

A Pair of Marquetry and Ormolu-Mounted Pedestals
Attributed to Joseph Cremer

Constructed from tulipwood, each pedestal of tapering rectangular form and dressed with ornamental gilt bronze mounts of female and bacchic masks, the front incorporating intricate marquetry panels depicting floral arrangements, butterflies and parrots executed in various specimen woods on a stained black background in the style first pioneered by André-Charles Boulle in his early work for the French court; the Carrara marble tops set within ormolu egg-and-dart mouldings.
French, circa 1860

Alongside his original designs, Cremer was noted for his copies emulating Boulle furniture. These pedestals follow Boulle’s early designs for a series of cabinets incorporating marquetry birds and flowers made around 1680, including the cabinet in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and the baron de Breteuil’s cabinet on show at Versailles.

Object Literature

Joseph Cremer (1811-1878)

Joseph Cremer was being born of French parents in Luxembourg in 1811, of French parentage, and active in Paris between 1839 and 1878, when the business was given to his son Thomas. He is recorded as supplying in 1844 a cabinet to King Louis-Philippe for his Normandy summer residence, the Chateau d’Eu at a cost of 3,500 francs. Cremer exhibited at the 1849 Paris exhibition, the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, the 1855 Paris Exposition, at which the jurors commented ‘In taste and design, he has achieved the impossible in balancing harmony with accuracy (of execution).’ He also exhibited at the 1862 London Exhibition.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details