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Attributed to MatthiJs Horrix, circa 1767-70 The serpentine Sainte-Anne marble top with molded ed...
Currency:USD
Category:Everything Else / Other
Start Price:NA
Estimated At:60,000.00 - 80,000.00 USD
NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 Jun 04 @ 11:00UTC-08:00 : PST/AKDT
Attributed to MatthiJs Horrix, circa 1767-70 The serpentine Sainte-Anne marble top with molded edge above two bombé drawers decorated sans traverse with cube parquetry centered by a star above a shaped apron with pierced C-scroll and foliate mount, each side with shaped door enclosing a shelf, the angles headed by foliate and scrolled mounts above a guilloche band and cabriole legs with acanthus sheathed scrolled sabot. 35 X 621/2 X 261/2 in. 89 X 159 X 67 cm - $60,000-80,000 Provenance 2nd Earl of Normanton (1778-1868), Somerley, Ringwood, Hampshire. And thence by descent. This commode epitomises the fashion for Louis XV furniture in Holland during the 1760s and 70s, most admired in the Hague where the Stadholder's court and the foreign embassies were based. It is attributed to the Hague cabinet-maker Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), the most prominent representative of the fashionable French style and the principal supplier of furniture to the court from 1767 until 1795. In 1767, following the marriage of Prince William V and Princess Wilhemina of Prussia, Horrix supplied the court with 'Commodes, Tafels etc.', for which he received 1515 florins. In the same year he was paid 650.8 florins for '...commodes en secretaries etc.' supplied to the country seat Het Loo. Three commodes in the collection of H.M. Queen Beatrix at Huis ten Bosch were almost certainly part of the 1767 commission. The largest of these has a pronounced rococo shape with splayed sides incorporating cabinets. The front is divided into three shaped panels framed by dark scrolling strapwork. The central cartouche shaped panel is embellished with exuberant floral marquetry (Rainier J. Baarsen, "'In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag' Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), een meubelmaker in Den Haag in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw", Oud Holland Jaargang Vol. 107 (1993) no. 2, p. 162, fig. 1). This decorative scheme clearly derives from the oeuvre of Jean-Francois Oeben (1721-63) (Baarsen, "Matthijs Horrix, Cabinet-maker in the Hague", Antiques CLIV (1998), p. 523). Including the commode in the Dutch Royal collection at least eleven other versions of this model are known, each of nearly identical size and construction and mainly decorated with floral marquetry. Among these are the Swinton commodes (sold Christie's London, 12 December 1996, lot 222, $276,000) and a single commode in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Baarsen, Nederlandse meubelen 1600-1800. Amsterdam, 1993, no. 52, p. 110); for others see Baarsen, 1993, pp. 162-207, figs. 1-43. One other example is decorated with plain and geometric veneers and has doors instead of drawers in the front (Baarsen, 1993, p. 524, fig. V). The present commode which is embellished with a small cube-marquetry pattern and a large central star motif is unusual and also derives from, Horrix's celebrated Parisian counterpart Oeben, who had developed this type of marquetry in the late 1750's. Unfortunately, very little is known of Horrix's early years in the Hague, prior to becoming Meester Kabinetwerker in 1764. He may have witnessed French cabinet-makers first hand whilst working as a journeyman in an atelier in Paris, like Heinrich-Wilhelm Spindler (d. 1788), who had probably spent several years in the Migeon workshop (S. Sangl, "Spindler?", Furniture History, 27 (1991), p. 25 and Baarsen, 1998, p. 522). Princess Wilhelmina particularly admired Horrix's original talent and became his most loyal client: virtually all her yearly private accounts include payments to Horrix for luxurious marquetry pieces. Her fondness for his work is perhaps most evident in a letter she wrote in 1793 to her daughter Princess Louisa, the wife of the Crown Prince of Brunswick, in which she describes the presents which Prince Frederick had received for his nineteenth birthday: Vous serez curieuse de savoir ce que Fritz a reçu. Je vous le raconterai. De son Père de l'argenterie; de moi une vaisselle de campagne en fer blanc et un secrétaire extremement commode et bien arrangé; Horrix y a développé tous ses talens [sic]. (Baarsen, 1993, pp. 172 and 179). The distinctive ornamental gilt-bronze mounts which embellish Dutch furniture in the French style were, however, rarely produced in Holland. Like other Dutch cabinet-makers active during the second half of the 18th century, Horrix used English lacquered gilt-brass mounts manufactured in Birmingham. English engraved designs for all but the keyhole mounts are in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Ibid., p. 202, fig. 36; Baarsen, 1998, p. 522, fig. 1; Nicholas Goodison, "The Victoria & Albert Museum's Collection of Metalwork Pattern Books", Furniture History Vol. 11 (1975), pp. 1-30). The mounts on the present piece appear on other commodes of this form by Horrix (Baarsen, 1993, pp. 161-255).
Auction Location:
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Previewing Details:
Tuesday May 28 10:00AM to 5:00PM;Wednesday May 29 10:00AM to 5:00PM;Thursday May 30 10:00AM to 5:00PM;Friday May 31 10:00AM to 5:00PM;Saturday June 1 10:00AM to 5:00PM;Sunday June 2 1:00PM to 5:00PM; Monday June 3 10:00AM to 5:00PM
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