Lot 132

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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DR. BRUCE WILSON

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD, KINGWOOD, AMARANTH AND MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

POSSIBLY BY JEAN-PIERRE LATZ, CIRCA 1750

■Post sale offsite storage
~Endangered/protected species

Price Realised USD 16,380

Estimate

USD 8,000 - USD 12,000

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD, KINGWOOD, AMARANTH AND MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

POSSIBLY BY JEAN-PIERRE LATZ, CIRCA 1750

Price Realised USD 16,380

The shaped rectangular top with a brass partial gallery, veneered with a spray of flowers in a strapwork cartouche flanked by shaped panels of trellis, the frieze fitted at the front with a writing slide and at one short side with a drawer, a false drawer to the other side, veneered all around with trailing flowers, on ormolu-mounted cabriole legs, marked in white '440' to the underside, drawer underside and slide underside
29 in. (74 cm.) high, 25¹⁄₂ in. (65 cm.) wide, 16¹⁄₄ in. (41.5 cm.) deep

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Lot Essay

Jean-Pierre Latz, appointed in 1741.

German born Jean-Pierre Latz (circa 1691-1754) was an artisan working in the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, arriving in Paris in 1719. While he never received his his style was characterized by its sculptural vitality, extremely realistic floral marquetry and distinctive bronze mounts, which he cast himself in direct contravention of Parisian Guild laws (see H. Hawley, ‘Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinetmaker’, , September/October 1970, p. 207). In France in the eighteenth century, it was completely prohibited to exercise this double activity of and ; the guilds were highly regulated and kept strict watch over their respective spheres. This practice of casting his own mounts, in direct contravention of guild laws, allowed him to perfect his unique models and adapt them to specific pieces of furniture and retain their exclusive use. A raid on his workshop in 1749 by the revealed the presence of 2,288 models of ormolu mounts. However, subsequent to this raid, Latz no longer had exclusive use of some of his molds as the bronze-casters' guild had seized them and the mounts cast from them, and sold them in accordance with guild regulations.

Latz's style was likely fundamental to the development of the Rococo idiom in Potsdam and Berlin (Hawley, p. 210); and his notable patrons included the sovereigns Frederick II, King of Prussia, and August III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and the duc de Penthièvre. A number of pieces were also commissioned by Louise Elizabeth, Louis XV's eldest daughter, between 1748-1753.