Bureau Mazarin
attributed to Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1705
Materials
Turtleshell, engraved brass, walnut and softwood
Measurements
81 x 122 x 68 cm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 434865
Summary
A tortoiseshell, brass inlaid and ormolu mounted 'Boulle' kneehole desk or bureau Mazarin, attributed to Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731) Paris, circa 1705. The rectangular top with cast brass edge and veneered with première partie marquetry inlaid with arabesques and figures, the top centred by an unusual scene depicting a dancer and monkey musicians With further figural depictions and with arabesques and trailing scrolling foliage. With seven drawers to the kneehole which also incorporates a recess with a hinged front. The shaped apron has applied brass drop pendants and the whole is raised on S scrolled legs tied by twin shaped X stretchers. The sides and drawer fronts also inlaid with figures, scrolls and trailing foliage.
Full description
This desk is very similar to one stamped by Nicolas Sageot in the Royal Collection, Stockholm. Another comparable example of identical form with shaped aprons and marquetry, also attributed to Sageot, is in the Ermitage Museum, St Petersburg (from the Roudanovski collection). Nicolas Sageot, was born in 1666. His atelier was probably active from 1690, though the first records date from 1698 when he employed two workers. Sageot worked until 1706 as an ouvrier libre, before his appointment as maître, and was based in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. 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 Léonard Prieur 'Marchand Mercier Grossier Joaillier Priviligié suivant la Cour' of 16,000 livres, consisting of a wide range of armoires, bureaux and commodes and amongst which were several 'armoires à dôme' in brass inlaid tortoiseshell, valued between 400 and 1000 livres. See NT485368 for a desk at Petworth House, Sussex of near identical form and decoration. (James Weedon February 2019)
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Makers and roles
attributed to Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731), ébéniste
References
Grand, P. - Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque, L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, pg.50 Rowell 2012 : Christopher Rowell, Petworth, The People and the Place, Scala, 2012 Jackson-Stops, 1977: Gervase Jackson-Stops. “The furniture at Petworth.” Apollo 105.183 (1977): pp.358-66. Hughes, 2008: Peter Hughes. “French furniture at Petworth: Boulle and the acquisitions from Hamilton Palace in 1882.” Apollo, suppl. Historic Houses and Collections Annual April (2008): pp.58-66. Ronfort 2009: Jean Nérée Ronfort (ed.), André Charles Boulle, 1642-1732 : Un nouveau style pour l’Europe (ex. cat.), Frankfurt 2009, p.170