Fine Pair Of Regency Brass Inlaid Side Cabinets Attributed To Louis Constantin

An Exceptionally Fine Pair of Regency Period Brass Inlaid Side Cabinets, Attributed to Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur

English c.1815-20

Provenance

Sold as Property of a Lady, Christie's 19th of September 2002, for £53,775

This fine pair of pier or side cabinets were made c.1815-20 in the high regency fashion with intricate Boulle-work inlay of brass set into fine rosewood veneers. The cabinets each have replaced marble tops which sit upon a leafy giltwood moulding, beneath the moulding is a wide frieze with contra-partie inlay of a central anthemion flanked by scrolling detailing. The motif is repeated on the sides of the piece on a slightly smaller scale. There is then a further giltwood moulding separating the frieze from the doors. The doors utilise versions of the same motifs from the frieze which run around the central silk panelled doors with fine gilt brass grills with central flower heads. Either side of the doors are grand scrolling corbels with parcel gilt highlights and floral paterae on the sides. The sides of each cabinet are also finely inlaid in brass and the cabinets stand proudly on a plinth base.

The cabinets are part of a small group of pieces with the same brass inlay. A larger side cabinet with glazed doors was sold at Christie's on the 3rd of October 2001, lot 339, for £49,350. The inlay on the frieze is of exactly the same pattern as on the present pair of cabinets and the design of the scrolling corbels is also nearly identical, especially in terms of the interesting scrolled section just above the toe or lower scroll.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-2918354

A further pair of side cabinets with the same frieze design and the same giltwood mouldings to top and bottom of the frieze were illustrated by Clifford Wright in the non-exhibitors section of the 1991 Grosvenor House Antiques Fair catalogue. These cabinets also have the same brass inlay to the sides as on our pieces and were clearly the product of the same workshop. Wright attributed his cabinets to L. C. Le Gaigneur (see image).

Finally another single side cabinet which shares the same frieze inlay, though in premiere-partie, and the same two giltwood mouldings was illustrated in the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair catalogue in 2005 by Godson and Coles Ltd. The inlay on the doors of this piece is the same strapwork design utilised on the Clifford Wright pair (see image).

We believe that our cabinets are part of the output of the Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur workshop. Le Gaigneur was a Frenchman who operated in London from c.1814-1821, working in the French taste for a primarily British clientele. Clients included the royal family and a pair of writing desks by the firm is still in the Royal Collection to this day, having originally been delivered to the Pavilion in Brighton in 1815.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/1/collection/35289/desk

Le Gaigneur specialised in brass inlaid furniture, some very obviously inspired by French furniture of the past, as in the example linked above, other pieces in the more modern regency taste. Le Gaigneur is also believed to have supplied inlay work to other markers which may explain the presence of the same design as on the friezes of our cabinets on a console table attributed to another maker with royal connections, George Oakley, that was offered at Bonham's in 2007

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/15296/lot/118/a-george-iv-rosewood-and-brass-marquetry-bowfront-console-table-attributable-to-george-oakley/

This table has other features which link with known Oakley commissions that are not present on our pieces and it seems much more likely that our cabinets were designed and made entirely in Le Gaigneur's workshop.

As noted in our provenance section, our cabinets made the large sum of £53,775 when offered for sale at Christie's in 2002 and it is easy to see why. Their sophisticated design, part of this small corpus of surviving examples, and their rich decorative aesthetic makes them extremely desirable examples.

Width: 27 1/2 inches - 70cm
Height: 36 inches - 92cm
Depth: 16 3/4 inches - 42.5cm