Anton Seuffert

Anton Seuffert, Auckland, New Zealand. A marquetry and parquetry handkerchief box, of rectangular form having a hinged cover centred two ferns within a 'C' scroll bordered panel, and a parquetry frame, with burr veneer borders, the sides with twenty four panels of specimen timbers separated by stringing above a dentil border and base moulding, the plain interior with rewarewa (New Zealand honeysuckle) to the inside of the cover, and a printed green label to the left hand side, 'A.SEUFFERT, CABINET MAKER To His Royal Highness THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH, Elliot St, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND,' circa 1879, 5.25in (13.5cm) h, 12.5in (31.8cm) w, 9.25in (23.5cm) d. Anton Seuffert was born in Bohemia in 1815 and later joined his father in the Vienna firm of cabinetmakers Carl Leistler. Seuffert Snr and Jnr organised the firm's stand at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, their most notable piece of furniture being the spectacular Gothic revival cabinet presented by Emperor Franz Joseph I to Queen Victoria, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Anton Seuffert emigrated to Auckland in 1859 and quickly established premises under his own name, specialising in high quality marquetry productions. He exhibited a pictorial marquetry secretaire consisting of 30,000 pieces of New Zealand timbers at the South Kensington International Exhibition of 1862. The secretaire was later acquired by the citizens of Auckland for 300 guineas and presented as a gift to Queen Victoria. It is still in the Royal Collection. Seuffert received further patronage from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1869. He changed his name from Seufert to Seuffert in 1869. The above lot has the same dentil banding on a table displayed at the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition. He died in 1887.