Style Napoleon III / Ref.11614

Henri-Auguste FOURDINOIS (1830-1907) - Louis XVI style Bureau plat

Stamp "H. FOURDINOIS" under the top of the bureau.

Fruit of a superb work of marquetry and wood veneer (walnut, cherry, blackened pear, sycamore), this Bureau plat is adorned on all sides of gilt bronze, rosettes of Louis XVI style, foliage and friezes of flowers.
The desk rests on four toupies feet which develops in the shape of tapered and fluted columns, topped with asparagus heads characteristic of the Louis XVI style, and surmounted by capitals of ionic order.
The gilt bronze ornaments of this flat desk are of a very high quality. The excellence of carving and gilding attest to a virtuoso work.

Born in Paris in 1830, Henri-Auguste Fourdinois trained at Félix Duban's workshop, before working in London as a model draftsman for goldsmith Jean-Valentin Morel, then in Paris with bronzier Victor Paillard. From his time with Felix Duban, he retains a great sense of composition, giving a very architectural form to his furniture. In 1867 he succeeded his father, who had taught him woodworking and the pursuit of excellence, at the head of the family company. His realizations are welcomed very favorably by the critics of the time, who emphasize the delicacy, the perfection of details and the beauty of the ornaments. The sales catalog of 1887, at the time of the closing of the company, thus greets an artist "who has participated in many exhibitions, harvesting everywhere the high rewards, collecting on all sides of inappreciable votes, furnishing of pure masterpieces the museums, the royal residences and the aristocratic hotels of Europe and the New World ".

This Bureau plat forms a set with the pair of vitrines reference 11611.