Lot 31
A French early 18th century Régence bronze and brass mounted kingwood and tulipwood commode attributed to Étienne Doirat
9 July 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £8,750 inc. premium
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A French early 18th century Régence bronze and brass mounted kingwood and tulipwood commode attributed to Étienne Doirat
the serpentine Portor marble top above two short and three long drawers, each with a foliate handle, flanked by fluted angles, on bracket feet, the reverse bearing a printed paper label fragment 'D.M.-Meurice-Braine-le-Château', 130cm wide, 64.5cm deep, 88.5cm high (51in wide, 25in deep, 34 1/2in high).
Footnotes
Étienne Doirat (1675-1732) was actif in Paris during the first third of the 18th century. He is recorded in the Grand-Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine at the time of his marriage in 1704. In 1726 he set up his workshop in the Cour de la Contrescarpe des Fossées de la Bastille, and in 1731 leased a store in the fashionable rue Saint-Honoré.
The bronze handles on this commode depicting flower-filled cornucopiae and the scrolling escutcheons with plumed masks are typical of the mounts used by Doirat. It is known that he retained exclusive use of his models for bronze mounts. See a comparable commode stamped E. Doirat with identical mounts, sold Sotheby's Paris, Mobilier, Sculptures et Objets d'art, 16 April 2013, lot 56 (€39,900).
The inventory following his death in 1732, published by J.-D. Augarde, 'IE. Doirat, Menuisier en ébène', The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Vol. XIII, 1985, pp. 33-52, reveals the diversity of his production, including not only commodes but also bureaux plats, bookcases, night-tables and encoignures. That inventory further mentions: '100 livres pesant de modèles de plomb imparfaits servant aux garnitures tant pour commodes que pour autres ouvrages'.
