λ AN IMPORTANT FRENCH IMPERIAL LOUIS XVI ROSEWOOD AND AMARANTH BUREAU PLAT

λ AN IMPORTANT FRENCH IMPERIAL LOUIS XVI ROSEWOOD AND AMARANTH BUREAU PLAT ALMOST CERTAINLY BY CLAUDE-CHARLES SAUNIER, C.1775-85, THE WORKING DESK OF NAPOLÉON III with mercury gilded chased ormolu mounts and inlaid with holly stringing, the rectangular top inset with a later tooled leather writing surface within a moulded ormolu border above three frieze drawers interspersed with classical triglyph tablets on paterae headed square tapering legs decorated with guttae and scrolling ribbon borders terminating in sabots, each end with a pull-out leather lined slide, the underside with various labels and stamps including: a branded Royal Garde de Meuble stamp of a 'crown above three fleur-de-lys' probably dating from the Restauration period, c.1815-20, ink stencil marks 'EC 78' and 'EC' possibly for the Écuries de Compiègne and 'B 157' for Villa Eugénie at Biarritz, a paper label inscribed 'Paris Austerlitz' and two metal inventory labels '108' and 'Eigentum Dr. R. K.' 78.8cm high, 195cm wide, 97.5cm deep

Provenance

The working desk of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French. Listed on the first inventory of the Villa Eugénie, Biarritz, the summer residence of Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie, dated 1858. Inventory no.157, listed under the 'Cabinet de travail de L'Empereur', 'Un Bureau en bois de rose et palissandre, style Louis XVI...., 195cm 98cm'. Transferred from Villa Eugénie, Biarritz in c.1881 to Farnborough Hill, Hampshire, the English country home of the Empress Eugénie until her death in 1920. By descent to Victor, Prince Napoléon, 3rd Prince of Montifort (1862-1926), thence on his death to Princess Clémentine of Belgium (1872-1955) and the head of the family Louis (1914-1997). Sold by Hampton & Sons, 'Farnborough Hill', 18th-26th July 1927, 'First Floor-The Princess's Sitting Room' lot 265, 'A Louis XVI library table, From the Royal Mobilier' for 340 guineas and purchased by the Parisian dealer Martin Bacri. Exhibited and sold by Martin Bacri at the Musée National de Malmaison, 1928 'Exposition de Napoléon 1er a Napoléon III, Souvenirs de la Famille Impériale, Conserves par L'Impératrice Eugénie dans sa Résidence de Farnborough et Provenant de sa Succession', item 81 'Table-Bureau, en bois de rose et bois de violette, Époque Louis XVI...Bureau de travail de l'Empereur Napoléon III, Ce bureau faisant partie au XVIIIe siecle, du Mobilier de la Couronne Royale de France. Estampille du Garde-Meuble Royal'. By repute bought by a member of the Rothschild family. Dr. R. K. collection, inventory number '108'. Purchased by our deceased collector from Bernard Oberson, Grandes Époques S. A. Antiquitiés, Objets d'Art, Geneva, 28th July 1972 for 180,000 Swiss Francs. From the Estate of a Collector, Heath House, Hampshire.

Literature

Professor Anthony Geraghty, The Empress Eugénie in England, Art, Architecture, Collecting. Connaissance des Arts, March 1969, n.205, pp.78-83. ‘Claude-Charles Saunier’. L’Estampille, L’Objet d’Art, October 2002, n.373, pp.70-82 for an article by Clothilde Fontana ‘Claude-Charles Saunier. Un ébeniste du siècle des Lumières’. Sylvie Legrand-Rossi, Le Mobilier du Musée Nissim de Camondo, pp.98-99. Marie-Noel de Gary, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Le Demeure d’un collectionneur, pp.232-233.

The Attribution

The present lot although not stamped is almost certainly by the esteemed maker Claude-Charles Saunier (1735-1807). The unusual triglyph mounts are very distinctive and can be seen on the other four recorded examples of this bureau by Saunier. There is one in the Le Salon Bleu, Musée de Nissim de Camondo, Paris and like our example it is unsigned. See Marie-Noel de Gary, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Le Demeure d’un collectionneur, pp.232-233. A second in bois de rose and bois de violette was illustrated in the Connaissance des Arts, March, 1969, p.78. A third example in kingwood, tulipwood and amaranth was sold by Sotheby’s, Important Furniture, 6th December 2011, lot 123 £61,250 (including buyer’s premium). A fourth in ebony and from the collection of Pierre Berès and probably originally in the renowned Carlhian collection sold at Christie’s, Paris, Pierre Berès: A Livre Ouvert, 13^th December 2012, lot 653 for 175,000 Euros (including buyer’s premium). A related smaller bureau in bois de rose, without the triglyph mounts can be found in the Collection du Mobilier National, numero d’inventaire IAM-468-000.

The Maker

Claude-Charles Saunier (1735-1807) received master in 1752. He was descended from a family of cabinet makers and initially shared his father’s (Jean-Charles) workshop in Fauborg Saint-Antoine but moved twice eventually settling in the rue Saint-Claude.

Saunier was well known for finely made furniture using the best quality timbers ornamented with gilt bronze mounts. He was quick to adopt the Neo-Classical style and he produced bureaux plats of restrained form, with architectural decoration and tapering legs. He used timbers of contrasting colours such as ebony and amaranth and fashionable woods such as satinwood from 1785 onwards.

Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie in England

Napoléon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, 20^th April 1808 – 9^th January 1873) was the first president of France from 1842 to 1852 and was the last monarch of France as ‘Emperor of the French’ from 1852 until he was deposed in absentia on the 4^th September 1870.

He was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernisation of Paris, commissioning George-Eugène Haussman to produce new boulevards and parks. He expanded the French colonial empire and personally engaged in two wars. He promoted agriculture ending famines in France and turning the country into an agricultural exporter.

In Foreign Policy he aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he allied with Britain defeating Russia in the Crimean War but his downfall as Emperor was brought about by the rising power of Prussia. In July 1870 Napoléon reluctantly declared war on Prussia after pressure from the general public. The French Army was soon defeated and Napoleon was captured at Sedan. He was swiftly dethroned and the Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. After he was released from German custody, Napoléon and his wife Eugénie went into exile in England arriving on the 20^th March 1871.

Humiliated and exiled, the Imperial family took a lease on Camden Place, a large country house in the village of Chislehurst in Kent. A house known to Napoléon when he was first exiled in England during the 1830s. However, Napoléon, worn out and sickly was to have only a short spell in England dying in January 1873 following an operation for the removal of bladder stones. More tragedy was to befall Eugénie when in 1879 her son the Prince Imperial was killed by the Zulus whilst serving with the British Army in South Africa. The Empress was devastated by the death of her only child and she decided to move from Camden Hill and in August 1880 she purchased the Farnborough Hill estate in Hampshire.