With its combination of sumptuous pietre dure plaques, floral marquetry and finely chased mounts, these splendid cabinets perfectly evoke the eclectic mid-19th century taste for furniture that appropriated the designs of generations past whilst simultaneously imbuing them with new life and functionality. Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-1882), whose famed atelier produced many of the period's most important works, excelled in this domain.
With their rich ebony veneers, floral marquetry panels and striking mounts these cabinets recall the tastes of the Ancien Régime and reference the work of the celebrated cabinetmaker, André-Charles Boulle, whose enduring popularity gave rise to numerous imitations in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Many such cabinets were created for the fashionably eclectic 'historicist' interiors which combined the old with the new.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the present cabinets are the precious pietre dure plaques representing exotic birds and tazze filled with an abundance of fruit. Likely created in Florence, these plaques combine rare inlaid hardstone specimens in the same manner as those on the spectacular cabinets, tables and works of art created by Opificio delle pietre dure, founded in 1588 by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de Medici. Many of the Grand Ducal Workshop's most famous pieces date to the late 17th and 18th centuries, but the insatiable demand for furniture mounted with pietre dure plaques led to their appropriation in furniture contemporary to the present pair of cabinets.
Furniture mounted with pietre dure plaques was in high demand across Europe in this period, and sophisticated patrons across the continent and the British Isles commissioned such works. A related cabinet by Beurdeley incorporating ebony and pietra dure plaques was offered for sale Christie’s, New York, 9 June 2014, lot 47. A gueridon by Beurdeley, similarly inlaid with 17th century Florentine hardstones, is reproduced in the photographic archives in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (inv. OA 5516) (see C. Payne, Paris Furniture: the luxury market of the 19th century, Éditions Monelle Hayot, 2018, p. 268 (illustrated)). Beurdeley’s cabinet for the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 also incorporated medallions and panels of rosso antico and diaspro di barga was sold Christie’s, London, 2 July 2024, lot 54 (£226,800). In England, the celebrated firm Robert Hume and Son executed splendid furniture mounted with Florentine hardstone panels for clients including the celebrated antiquarian collector, William Beckford (d. 1844). An extraordinary side cabinet created by Hume for Beckford circa 1815-20 sold Christie's, London, 5 July 2012, lot 12 (£157, 250).
THE BEURDELEY DYNASTY
Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley was the second generation of a dynasty of cabinet makers who exerted a profound influence on French furniture in the 19th century. Louis-Auguste-Alfred's father, Jean Beurdeley (1772-1853), founded a celebrated shop at the pavilion de Hanovre in Paris, and established the family's reputation as a purveyor of fine furniture in the French capital. In 1840, Louis-Auguste-Alfred officially succeeded his father and began to create a wide variety of furniture and objects which both reprised the work of 18th century masters and was extremely original in its own right.
The Beurdeley family was one of the most important furniture production dynasties of the 19th century. They brought their art to a level of excellence rarely matched and which they maintained for three generations from 1818 to 1895. Particularly renowned for the quality of their gilt-bronze mounts, their systematic use of mercury gilding and their talent for chiseling enabled them to perpetuate the tradition of excellence from the 18th century.
Much like his father before him, Louis-August-Alfred Beurdeley maintained a dynamic and varied workshop; streamlining production and facilitating the creation of exceptional works of art that intricately incorporated inlaid marble alongside delicate wood carving and exquisite bronze work. A sales inventory of the Beurdeleys’ stock-in-trade, conducted in 1861, indicates that their workshops had at their disposal a large stock of hard stones, which described as follows: "a considerable lot of precious materials consisting of lapis lazuli cut into slabs and uncut, a considerable lot of sanguine jasper, the rarest oriental agates [...] a considerable lot of large blocks of oriental porphyry ".
They were also intrepid collectors of a wide range of items including petre dure panels and oriental lacquer, showing an acute awareness for the use, presentation and the value of incorporating these to enrich their furniture. The present pair of cabinets, employing late 17th century plaques of precious pietra dure, have mouldings differing minutely in size to fit each pietra dure plaque individually showing each to their best advantage.
Louis-Auguste-Alfred's son, Alfred-Emmanuel-Louis Beurdeley (1847-1919), who succeeded his father in 1875, continued to create case furniture mounted with rich hardstone-inlaid plaques. The dominance of the three generations of Beurdeley makers helped bring about a new standard of excellence in French furniture making and their participation in the European and American Great Exhibitions led to an international appetite for their creations.