Bureau Mazarin
manner of Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1710
Materials
Brass, Tortoiseshell, walnut drawers, pine carcass, rosewood legs
Measurements
80.5 x 130.5 x 72 cm
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Lanhydrock, Cornwall
NT 882802
Summary
A tortoiseshell and brass-inlaid bureau-Mazarin, French, circa 1710. In the manner of Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731). The profuse Berainesque theatrical designs in the brass-work including pirates, caryatids and cherubs, together with bugs and birds amongst lambrequins and foliage, the rectangular top and raised side panels all with brass edges, the centre section with frieze drawer and deep drawer flanked by three drawers, standing on eight 'S' scroll legs joined by flattened twin X-stretchers and on toupie feet. See also another similar at Lanhydrock (NT 882906).
Full description
This finely inlaid bureau Mazarin decorated with Berainesque motifs closely relates to a group of boulle bureaux Mazarin either stamped by or attributed to Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731). It is quite typical in form with three drawers flanking a kneehole containing two recessed drawers and standing on eight S-scrolled legs joined by X -stretchers. A number of Parisian ébénistes made this type of bureau Mazarin. However, Nicolas Sageot had a particular talent for them and he was inspired by the engravings of Jean Berain which were widely disseminated. Compare for example, a bureau Mazarin stamped by Sageot, illustrated in Jean Néré Ronfort, André Charles Boulle,1642-1732, Un nouveau style pour l'Europe, Paris, 2009, p.170, fig. 5 and pp. 294-295, fig. 45. There is a related bureau Mazarin attributed to Sageot in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (formerly in the Roudanovski collection), also illustrated by Ronfort, which is identical to the example stamped Sageot in the Royal Swedish Collection. In the National Trust collections there are similar bureaux Mazarin at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire (NT 617661), Treasurer's House, York (NT 592899), Petworth House, Sussex (NT 485368) and Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk (NT 1398377). Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731), received Master 1706: He was born in Samaize-les Bains and appears to have become active around 1690 and is first recorded as working in Grande rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine in 1698 where, before being accepted by the cabinet-makers guild, he had worked as an ouvrier libre. He married, in 1711, Marie Brigitte Roussel, the daughter of the ébéniste Jacques Roussel and his workshop appeared to prosper until around 1720, when he stopped working and sold his stock. His production seems to have principally consisted of armoires, commodes and bureaux. Jean Bérain (1637-1711): The influence of Jean Bérain is seen in the whimsical and fluid designs inlaid over most of the bureau. Bérain's work is legendary and he was one of the pivotal figures in the creation of the Louis XIV style. There is a lightness of touch and attention to minute detail in his work which may come from the very start of his career when he produced designs for the metal components on small firearms and locks. His printed designs have a theatricality which is perhaps derived from when he was appointed in 1674 Architecte Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi when he produced designs for festivals, ballets and other festive occasions. Bérain's work was widely disseminated and on the year of his death in 1711, a collection of his engraved designs was published in Paris, Oeuvre de Jean Bérain, Recueillies par les Soins du Sieur Thuret. Apart from set design and engraved metal work, his influence can be seen in architecture, works of art, ceramics and tapestries from the Beauvais manufactory.
Provenance
Acquired on transfer of the house to the National Trust. This bureau-Mazarin was mentioned in a 1969 leaflet for visitors to Lanhydrock. There were two, one in the Morning Room and one in the Drawing Room, and were given to the National Trust with the house. Included in a Country Life article entitled 'Victorian Lanhydrock II' by John Cornforth dated 23 February 1978, shown in the Drawing Room.
Makers and roles
manner of Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731), maker
References
Cornforth, 1978: John Cornforth. “Victorian Lanhydrock.” Country Life 23 Feb. 1978: pp.458-61. Ronfort 2009: Jean Nérée Ronfort (ed.), André Charles Boulle, 1642-1732 : Un nouveau style pour l’Europe (ex. cat.), Frankfurt 2009, Fig.5 & Fig 45