The galleried marble top over foliate scrolling frieze, porcelain mounted fall-front opening to fitted interior, lower porcelain mounted doors opening to single shelf and locking drawer, all atop toupie feet, the back with painted Rothschild inventory number R282
49³⁄₄ in. (126.4 cm.) high, 29³⁄₄ in. (75.6 cm.) wide, 15 in. (38.1 cm.) deep

Possibly acquired by Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905).
Thence by descent to his son Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949).
Confiscated from the above by Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and transferred to the Jeu de Paume after the Nazi occupation in 1941 (R 282).
Recovered by the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section from Alt Aussee, Austria and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, 20 June 1945 (MCCP no. 610).
Repatriated to France, 19 September 1946.
Acquired privately from the Succession de Baronne Edouard (Germaine Alice Halphen) de Rothschild (1884-1975) by the father of the present owner (who formed one of the most distinguished collections of French decorative arts formed in the second half of the 20th Century).

Please note this lot will be moved to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn) at 5pm on the last day of the sale. Lots may not be collected during the day of their move to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services. Please consult the Lot Collection Notice for collection information. This sheet is available from the Bidder Registration staff, Purchaser Payments or the Packing Desk and will be sent with your invoice.

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Lot Essay

This cabinet provides an interesting insight into the taste of the second quarter of the 19th century and the revived interest in porcelain-mounted furniture. Such pieces, mounted with Sèvres porcelain plaques by ébénistes working for the principal marchand-merciers in Paris were extremely fashionable from the early 1760s through the 1780s. During the 1820s and 1830s, a revived taste for the Louis XVI style also brought porcelain mounted furniture back en vogue. Genuine 18th century plaques were available throughout the 19th century and numerous dealers were engaged in altering existing pieces or making new ones to receive the plaques. These include Edward Holmes Baldock (active 1830s-1840s), Nicolas Morel and Tatham in England as well as France, A.L. Bellanger (circa 1825), Vaché and Jules Piret (active in the 1820s and from the 1850s, respectively). For two pair of secretaires of a similar construction and taste, see Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 260 and Christie's, London, 12 June 2003, lot 19. A further pair, also with Rothschild family provenance sold, Property of Jean Charlotte de Rothschild, Baronne Leonino (1874-1929); Christie's, New York, 27 May 1999, lot 340.