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| A Fine French Louis XIV Brass, Tortoiseshell, Ebony and Stained-Horn Boulle Commode, attributed to Nicolas Sageot
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Circa 1710
Height: 2 ft. 8 in. (81 cm)
Width: 4 ft. 4 in. (132 cm)
Depth: 2 ft. 2 in. (66 cm)
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Inlaid with contrepartie marquetry overall of acanthus scrolls, rinceaux and tendrils in tortoiseshell and flowers, foliage, shells and female masks in blue, red, green and white-stained horn, the D-shaped top with moulded brass edge and rounded corners centring a scene of Venus and the Four Elements, above two short and three long walnut-lined drawers with ormolu escutcheons and handles and a serpentine inlaid apron below, the rounded edges terminating in ormolu C-scroll and shell bracket feet, Circa 1710.
The style of exquisitely refined and technically accomplished decoration on this magnificent commode derives its name from the celebrated ébéniste du roi André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), who supplied Louis XIV at Versailles and popularised the sumptuous practice of inlaying ebony-veneered case furniture with tortoiseshell, brass, pewter, and stained horn in marquetry based on the fashionable arabesque ornamental drawings of the designer Jean Bérain (d.1711). Although Boulle’s name became synonymous with this technique, numerous other Parisian cabinetmakers produced work in a similar manner during the early decades of the 18th century, including Pierre Moulin, Aubertin Gaudron, Noël Gérard and especially Nicolas Sageot.
Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731, maître 1706) operated a thriving workshop in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris specialising in the production of opulent commodes, armoires and desks in Boulle marquetry. He was first recorded as working in the Grande Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1698 as an ouvrier libre and became a member of the cabinetmaker’s guild eight years later. In 1711 he married Marie Brigitte Roussel, daughter of the ébéniste Jacques Roussel. Documents indicate Sageot also operated as a retailer as well as a cabinetmaker, and in 1720 he retired from business and sold his stock to the Marchand Mercier Grossier joaillier Privilégié suivant la Cour Léonard Prieur, for 16,000 livres, a considerable sum at the time. In 1723, however, he suffered a mental breakdown and two years later was committed to the psychiatric hospital of Charenton, where he died in January 1731.
Like the majority of Louis XIV cabinetmakers, Sageot did not normally sign his work, but a few examples of pieces with his stamp have come to light. One of these, a commode of identical form and decoration to the present piece, formerly in the collection of the Duke of Newcastle at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, was sold Christie’s London 16 December 1999, Lot 50. Although in première partie marquetry of brass in tortoiseshell without polychrome inlay, this commode also has a slight bow-front outline with four tiers of drawers and possesses the same distinctive gilt-bronze scroll feet and handles terminating in flower-filled urns; moreover, the inlaid ornament corresponds almost exactly to that on the present commode, with only a minor variation in the central scene. These close similarities militate strongly in favour of the hypothesis that the two pieces must emanate from the same workshop.
Further related commodes with polychrome marquetry veneers include an example formerly in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, sold Christie’s London, 14 December 2000, lot 320; one from the Barabra Piasecka Johnson and Duchesse de Talleyrand collections, sold Sotheby’s New York 21 May 1992, lot 69; and another sold Hôtel George V Paris, 11 December 1988 (ill. Pierre Grand, ‘Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l’époque’, L’Estampille-l’Objet d’Art, February 1993, p.61).
As Sageot was recorded as a merchant as well as a cabinetmaker it is possible he may have been the retailer rather than the manufacturer of some of the pieces stamped by or attributed to him. Many ébénistes are known to have subcontracted the production of brass and tortoiseshell inlaid panels, normally cut out in series from the same design by workshops of specialised marqueteurs, notably Toussaint Devoye, who was known to have been a supplier of both Sageot and his contemporaries (Grand, p.64-66).
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