Two exceptional pedestals by André-Charles Boulle return to Versailles

1/2/24 - Acquisition - Versailles, Musée national du château - They were placed in the Salon de l’Abondance in the heart of the Grands Appartements du Roi at Versailles. The two exceptional pedestals by André-Charles Boulle had joined the Versailles collections in October 2022, thanks to the prestigious sale of the Al-Thani collection from the Hôtel Lambert at Sotheby’s in Paris (see the news item of 11/10/22). While we devoted a short article to the chiffonière table by Weisweiler acquired by the Château (see news item of 10/20/22), we only mentioned the three other Versailles preemptions during this intense week of sales. The publication of the Château de Versailles’ 2022 acquisitions report in the latest issue of Versalia (see summary), the indispensable journal of the Société des Amis de Versailles [1], is an opportunity to return to each of them. We’ll start with the pair of pedestals offered, shortly before the table chiffonnière, among the first lots of the inaugural sale on October 11, 2022, before turning our attention to the screen attributed to Tilliard from the Garde-Meuble privé of Queen Marie-Antoinette and the two foot stools delivered for Napoleon at Trianon, snapped up on October 13 (news items of the sale to come). Like the Weisweiler table, the two pedestals were purchased by preemption thanks to Jeanne Heymann’s bequest, after being sold for €1,100,000 hammer price.

: 1. André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
Pair of pedestals, 1684
Wood, brass, pewter and tortoiseshell marquetry,
blue-tinted horns, gilded bronzes
129.2 x 42.5 x 37.5 cm
128.7 x 42.5 x 37.8 cm
Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon
Photo: Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon/C. Fouin
/C. Fouin; See the image in its page

Ornamented on three sides with a fine inlaid motif of falling acanthus flowers - in brass, pewter, tortoiseshell and stained horn - embellished at the top, under the capital, three ormolu…

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