Decorated overall in premiere-partie with Berain-esque design, the rectangular moulded top with some polychrome inlays, designed with figural compostion of musicians, one playing the organ under a lambrequin, with scrolling branches, hunting scene, exotic birds, and courting scenes, above two short and two long drawers outlined with ebony, with loose handles, centered by ormolu male grotesque mask escutcheons, the sides similarily decorated with cranes, flanked with pierced curved uprights with rosewood squared sections, on paw feet
31¹⁄₂ in. (80 cm.) high; 46¹⁄₂ in. (125 cm.) wide; 26 in. (66 cm.) deep

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Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square ( ¦ ) not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite.If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale.Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only.Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

This richly decorated commode recalls the arabesque engravings of Jean Bérain (1640-1711) dessinateur de la Chambre et du cabinet du Roi from 1674, as published in Oeuvre de Jean Bérain recueillies par les soins de sieur thuret (1711). His engravings provided ample material for the ébenistes of the day and are seen on numerous Boulle marquetry commodes. The decoration of this cabinet reflects the courtly pastimes of the day with its playful depiction of a group playing instruments, lovers courting, dancers under parasols and hunters shooting birds and chasing rabbits and dogs. The Ottoman costume of the figures illustrates the great taste for ‘Turquerie’ at the court of Louis XIV, a vogue stoked by an increase in diplomatic relations which saw a revival of the Franco-Ottoman Alliance in the later 17th century. A commode with the same decoration en premiere partie et contre partie was sold Christie’s Paris 8 November 2005, lot 351 and excepting the addition of an apron and the different shape of the uprights is of similar composition to the present lot. The shape of the present lot is related to a four-drawer commode probably by Sageot in the Wallace Collection, London (F39). The curved uprights (pierced in the present example), handles and ormolu mouldings are common features to commodes attributed to Sageot. Another related commode was sold Christie’s New York 2 November 2000, lot 267.
Sageot had a thriving workshop on the rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine by 1698 and became a master in 1706. He evidently rapidly expanded his business, as by 1711 he had 12,000 livres, almost all in stock-in-trade. The extensive nature of his business is revealed by the sale in 1720 to Leonard Prieur 'Marchand Mercier Grossier Joaillier Privilegi suivant la Cour' of 16,000 livres worth of furniture, consisting of a wide range of armoires, bureaux and commodes. In the same year he sold 12,000 livres worth of bois de menuiserie to Claude Franois de Maignat, marchand de bois, consisting mainly of oak, pine and limewood. It is worth noting that most of Sageot's case pieces employ a pine drawer construction, as with the present lot.