JEAN FRANÇOIS OEBEN (1721-1763), REÇU MAÎTRE EN... Lot 128

JEAN FRANÇOIS OEBEN (1721-1763), REÇU MAÎTRE EN 1761 CONSOLE DESSERTE Paris, Louis XVI period Amaranth, rosewood, gilt bronze, white marble Stamped H. 92 cm, W. 96 cm, D. 48 cm Rounded shape, this console-desk rests on four pilaster uprights joined by three crotch shelves and opens with a large front drawer and two small pivoting side drawers. An elegant ornamentation of chiselled and gilded bronzes gives rhythm to the composition. A frieze of interlacing covers the belt, fluted, filleted and floral fillets punctuate the pilasters, and an openwork gallery highlights each shelf. A grey veined white marble top crowns the ensemble. A console of a model very close to ours bearing the stamp of Jean-François Oeben was part of the collection of Mademoiselle Rémy (fig.1). However, in an article published in Connaissance des Arts in 1955 (n°45), the hypothesis is mentioned that it was made by Jean- Henri Riesener. After the death of Jean-François Oeben in 1763, his widow, Françoise-Marguerite Vandercruse continued the cabinet making activity with Jean-Henri Riesener, one of the Master's main collaborators. In 1767, he married the widow Oeben, obtained his master's letters in January 1768 and was then able to affix his hallmark to creations he had been making for five years under the "Oeben" label. Thus, furniture made by Riesener between 1763 and 1767 bore the "Oeben" stamp, and some of the furniture made by Jean-François Oeben before 1763 was completed by Riesener, who either stamped it with the Oeben mark before 1767 or with his own stamp after 1768. This is the case for the desk ordered in 1760 by King Louis XVI for Versailles, which Riesener completed, signed and delivered in 1769. Our console desk is intimately similar to the one in the Rémy collection and could also be a work by Jean-Henri Riesener. Rectilinear shape with rounded corners, three shots