As anticipated, the top lot of the 7.8m [euro] sale was a pair of extravagant Louis XIV pedestals, here firmly attributed to
Andre-Charles Boulle, which sold for 727,500 [euro].
It includes open sections so you can see how it was built, furniture by
Andre-Charles Boulle, Mortlake tapestries, paintings by El Greco and Gainsborough and one of the world's most complete period armouries.
It includes open sections so that you can see how it was built, furniture by
Andre-Charles Boulle, Mortlake tapestries, paintings by El Greco and Gainsborough and one of the world's most complete period Armouries.
Here, a rectangular monolithic platform, suggesting an eroded ice block, sits on three classy spiralled and conical legs, like those on a baroque table clock by
Andre-Charles Boulle in the Frick Collection.
Whether it is paintings by Canaletto or Goya, porcelain produced at Sevres, or marquetry attributed to
Andre-Charles Boulle, it can all be found at The Bowes Museum, which has received Designated status from the government in recognition of the outstanding collection.
Brock is not drawn to pieces just because they were the former possessions of any particular aristocrat or royal; he is more interested in the working methods and design inspirations of elite makers and tastemakers, such as Thomas Hope,
Andre-Charles Boulle, Jean-Henri Riesener, and Nicolas Heurtaut.
One hundred examples of porcelain, furniture, silver, and bronzes by craftsmen such as Johann Joachim Kaendler and
Andre-Charles Boulle are featured in this lavishly illustrated catalogue.
Cattelain shows me photographs of a bureau plat, or writing desk, he recently acquired at auction in Zurich by
Andre-Charles Boulle, one of the most important furniture makers of the 18th century (Fig.
Mia Jackson is a PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London, researching the collections of
Andre-Charles Boulle.
Some chapters focus on artistic trends such as 'Rococo' and 'A Taste for China' in the 18th century, or 'Inspiration from the Far East' in the second half of the 19th century, while others concentrate on leaders of taste, such as '
Andre-Charles Boulle, Prince of Cabinet Makers' or 'Rene Lalique and the Art of the Art Nouveau Goldsmith', specific patrons ('Silver for the Courts of Russia and Spain'), and there is even a more personal chapter on 'Nostalgia for the Ancien Regime'.
At Europ Auction's 25 September sale, meanwhile, a pair of grand ormolumounted partie and contrepartie marquetry cabinets by
Andre-Charles Boulle changed hands for 2.2m [euro].
'Masterpieces at Christie's' was a three-day exhibition in June that showcased the upcoming highlights of its entire London summer season, and it saw Francis Bacon and Jean-Michel Basquiat offered alongside Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
Andre-Charles Boulle, Robert Adam and Rembrandt.
