A Louis XVI Bureau Plat Attributed To Guillaume Benneman

A large and important Louis XVI gilt bronze mounted mahogany bureau plat attributed to Guillaume Benneman after an order by Jean Hauré with superb mounts attributed to Forestier (most probably Pierre-Auguste Forestier), Pierre-Philippe Thomire, Feuchère (most probably Pierre-François Feuchère) and Bardin, the rectangular gilt tooled green leather-inset writing surface above three frieze drawers comprising a central drawer flanked by a pair of deeper drawers, that on the right with an inner lockable compartment, each drawer with a mille-raies border decorated in the corners with a rosette and centred by an escutcheon ornamented with a ribbon-tied laurel wreath swag, the two side drawers with magnificent lion-mask garland-hung handles, the back of the bureau with three dummy drawers, the sides with pulling writing slides, the front and back with three vertical gilt mounts above square tapering legs ornamented with horizontal mille-raies panels and terminated by angular gilt bronze feet

Paris, date circa 1786
Height 77 cm, length 162 cm, depth 96 cm.

PROVENANCE

Baroness Lambert. Sotheby’s Monaco, “Important Mobilier et Objets d’Art”, 26-27th May 1980, lot 652, noted as from the “appartement à la Baronne Lambert”. The Georg Waechter Memorial Foundation, Geneva. Sotheby’s Zurich, “Feine Keramik, Möbel und Zierstücke”, 5th June 1996, lot 336.

This magnificent bureau plat, which has been attributed to the maître ébéniste Guillaume Benneman (d. 1811) by Alexandre Pradère, is not only of the finest quality but also boasts a fascinating recent provenance that reflects its intrinsic importance. When working as ébéniste du Roi Benneman (also spelled Beneman) made a very similar bureau which was commissioned in 1786 by the Garde-Meuble de Couronne through the fournisseur du roi Jean Hauré (1739-post 1796) for Louis XVI and is now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. It also compares with another bureau plat by Benneman which was in the Schloss Museum, Berlin until it was destroyed during the Second World War. Interestingly it also appears similar to another bureau plat that was once owned by the great art collector Sir Richard Wallace (1818-90) which after his and his wife's respective deaths remained in their former Parisian residence at 2 rue Laffitte, (Hughes, op. cit.). The Wallace bureau plat, which is remarkably similar to the one now in the Musée du Louvre, will be discussed in due course.

Before describing the history as well as the numerous makers involved in the creation of the bureaux plats in the Musée du Louvre and Schloss Museum, Berlin, it is useful to outline their similarities with the present piece. Firstly, all three are of the same overall angular Neo-classical form, having the same three frieze drawers and square tapering legs. Furthermore, the escutcheons as well as the beautiful lion-head handles on the two frieze drawers are identical. Both the bureau plat in the Musée du Louvre and the one formerly in the Schloss Museum feature Vitruvian scroll mounts on the central frieze drawer and have additional foliate mounts at the top and base of each leg. However, as Watson op. cit. notes the one in the Louvre has four side pulls on which books could be placed while the Berlin piece had far more elaborate marquetry inlays. Despite differences between all three, their overall design corresponds as does their high quality of execution.

The records for Benneman's bureau plat in the Louvre is well documented by Pierre Verlet, op. cit. based on Haurés own notes and the Garde Meuble records. From these we know that it was ordered by the Garde Meuble de Couronne in 1786 via Jean Hauré and was intended to stand in Louis XVI's Cabinet Intérieur at Château de Compiègne. However, it was taken back to Paris on 17th September 1786 and less than a month later, on 7th October, it was transported to Château de Fontainebleau where it was placed in the Bibliothèque du Roi. Orders for a second bureau plat followed within months of the first. This was destined for the Cabinet Intérieur at Château de Compiègne and was most probably the piece that later stood at the Schloss Museum, Berlin. The Garde-Meuble's description of it, 12th October 1786 notes its similarity with the preceding piece: Service de Compiegne. 12 9bre 1786. No 15… Appartement du Roi… Cabinet interieur. Un bureau pareil à celui fait en 1786 et qui est placé dans la biblioteque à Fontainebleau, en observant de faire la tablette tirante devant et derriere pour plus de commodité, les bronzes, quart de ronds et autres ornemens semblables ainsy que les mesures au préecédent bureau, evalué…2,400 l.