Lot 356: ALFRED-EMMANUEL-LOUIS BEURDELEY 1847-1919 A LOUIS XVI STYLE GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED BURR AMBONYA, EBONY AND EBONIZED COMMODE AFTER THE CELEBRATED MODEL BY STOCKEL AND BENNEMAN PARIS, CIRCA 1875

ALFRED-EMMANUEL-LOUIS BEURDELEY 1847-1919 A LOUIS XVI STYLE GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED BURR AMBONYA, EBONY AND EBONIZED COMMODE AFTER THE CELEBRATED MODEL BY STOCKEL AND BENNEMAN PARIS, CIRCA 1875 surmounted by a Blanc Veiné de Carrare marbel top, three frieze drawers, one shelf to each of the three cupboards, the large majority of the bronze mounts with the BY mark from the bronze master model height 41 1/2 in.; width 83 in.; depth 27 1/2 in. 105.5 cm; 211 cm; 70 cm

D. Alcouffe, Furniture Collection in the Louvres, Vol 1, p. 296-7 for illustrations of the 18th century model by Benneman; C. Payne, François Linke, p. 200, for a Linke black and white cliché
of the original commode by Guillaume Benneman at the Louvre;
P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Vol. I, p. 244 and P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, 2002, p. 54-65 for illustrations of the 18th century model by Benneman.

The original model is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris (inv. OA 5507) to where it had been transferred in 1870 from the Mobilier national. Originally made in 1786 by Joseph Stockel for the Comte de Provence, it and its companion pieces were altered by Guillaume Benneman intended for Louis XVI's bedchamber at Compiegne. Much admired by Napoleon Bonaparte, it was in his salon in 1807 and later in his bedchamber.

Alfred Beurdeley (1808-1882) specialized in reproducing the most magnificent articles from the Garde Meuble National. The firm exhibited and won awards at all of the major international exhibitions during the second half of the 19th century. The quality and skill employed in production was of exceptional quality. The firm produced hand-chased and mercury gilded ormolu mounts, which were often difficult to distinguish from late 18th century examples, and were considered the finest in Paris. The firm was pioneered by Jean Beurdeley (1772-1853), later managed by his son Louis-Auguste-Alfred, and who finally imparted it to his son Alfred-Emmanuel-Louis in 1875. The firm was established at 32 Rue Louis-Le-Grand, and also owned pavillion de Hanovre, where the firm was based while Alfred-Emmanuel-Louis added two additional workshops at 20 and 24 Rue Dautancourt. The company's workshops closed in 1895 and Beurdeley's stock was sold at a number of auctions conducted by the Galerie Georges Petit of Paris. Two auction catalogues of the collection were published in 1895 and sales were held between March 6-8 and May 27-28, of that year.