An important pair of "Boulle" marquetry tea light stands in - Lot 32

An important pair of "Boulle" marquetry tea light stands in tortoiseshell and engraved brass or blue-tinted horn and pewter; the circular trays rest on tapered shafts punctuated by knots decorated with applique mascarons or spheres; they stand on three goat-like feet enclosing a gadrooned ring; the base features three mantling aprons centered on mascarons; the three piaster feet end in scrolls with crosses. Attributed to André-Charles Boulle Louis XIV period (restorations and reinforcements notably in the tops) H. 132 cm Based on a successful model of the same period, with a shaft punctuated with ram heads, André-Charles Boulle created the "baluster shaft" model of porte-torchères or guéridons at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. The base is still embellished with lambrequin aprons centered on mascarons, but the baluster shaft is punctuated by a sphere; the model was inspired by designs for torchères or guéridons taken from the collection of engravings entitled "Nouveaux Deisseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie inventés et gravés par André Charles Boulle" published in Paris by Mariette around Mariette around 1725 (see exhibition catalog André-Charles Boulle 1642-1732, Un nouveau style pour l'Europe, Frankfurt, 2009, p. 360). Such pedestal tables appeared as early as the 18th century among some of the great connoisseurs of the period, including those mentioned by Jean de Jullienne in Jullienne in 1767 "Deux très beaux guéridons, de marqueterie de Boulle en cuivre et étain, sur fond d'ébène, de forme élégante, richement garnis de bronze, et de tapis à masques avec franges entre les pieds, qui se terminent en rouleaux d'ornement par le bas; ils portent de haut 4 pieds 1 pouce, sur la plate-forme du plateau 13 pouces de diamètre", as well as those described during the dispersal of Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset's collections in February 1777: "Deux guéridons, de Boulle, à tige ronde, forme de balustre sortant d'un socle à trois tapis et à trois consoles à rouleau faisant pied triangulaire; le tout en marqueterie d'étain: le plateau est orné de moulure à feuilles de laurier, la tige de triglyphes, de petits mascarons, de têtes et pieds de bélier, et de différents accessoires, les tapis de franges, mascaron et les rouleaux de rinceau, le tout en bronze doré: hauteur 48 pouces". Today, among the few known identical models, sometimes with certain variations in composition, we should particularly mention: a first pair, acquired in the mid-1850s by Sir George Dashwood, which formed part of the Djahanguir Riahi collections (see D. Alcouffe and D. Langeois, Quelques chefs-d'oeuvre de la collection Djahanguir Riahi, Ameublement français du XVIIIe siècle, Editions Franco Maria Ricci, Milan, 1999, p.38- 39); and a second pair in the Wallace Collection, London (illustrated in P. Hugues, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, II, London, 1996, p. 616-620) (Fig.); finally, we should mention two pairs, donated to the Musée du Louvre by Mr. and Mrs. René Grog-Carven in 1973, two of which are reproduced in D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tenenbaum and A. Lefébure, Le mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Tome 1, Moyen-Age, Renaissance, XVIIe-XVIIIe s. (ébénisterie), XIXe s., Editions Faton, Dijon, 1993, p.90, catalog no. 23. André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was the most important Parisian cabinetmaker-sculptor during the reign of Louis XIV. Throughout his career, this unrivalled craftsman displayed an exceptional inventiveness that enabled him to work for the most important collectors of the time, and above all to work for Louis XIV, for whom he delivered some of the greatest masterpieces of French cabinetmaking. A cabinetmaker as well as a sculptor, Boulle himself created the bronze motifs with which he adorned his creations. Today, his works can be found in some of the world's most important private and public collections, including the Musée du Louvre Musée du Château de Versailles, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.