”SECRETER “Á ABATTANT”. GILT BRONCE, MARQUETRY, PORCELAIN, CLOTH, MARBLE. SIGNED HYPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT (ParIs, France, 1812-1855).
Antiques - Furniture
Reference: Z6849
“Abattant” secretaire. Fine woods, marquetry, interior with drawers in rosewood and textile, gilded bronze and enamelled porcelain; marble top. Signed HYPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT (Paris, 1812-1855). 19th century. Secretaire with a top in veined light marble and a rectangular base, with a curved base and rounded corners highlighted by a diamond marquetry and some applications in gilded metal reminiscent of classicism. The sides have a diamond-shaped decoration on the wood in the central area, separated by two gilded bronze mouldings that extend along the three fronts; in the upper part, the same compositional scheme is repeated. The front concentrates the decoration: a composition framed by feathering based on flowers and plant elements in a delicate marquetry for each of the drawers, which, on the small door, is highlighted by a bronze moulding and accompanied by an enamelled porcelain plate. This has two cupids on a celestial background, as well as a frame in this same metal. Opening this small door reveals a small desk with a fabric-covered top and four drawers flanking a central space, located under another rectangular space. The corners of the piece also feature classicist dolphins and grotesques of children with the lower half of their bodies transformed into plant elements and scrolls. The piece of furniture bears a signature linked to Hippolyte-Edme Pretot, a Parisian cabinetmaker who established himself in the Rue de l'Abbaye in 1836, moved to the Rue Saint-Germain in 1841 and, from 1846, to the Rue de Harlay. He showed some of his best work at the Exposition Nationale in France in 1849 and was awarded a medal at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The present example can be compared with the lines of a Napoleon III cabinet in pietra dura, ebonised wood and gilded bronze, which has been dated to around 1850 and is kept in a private collection. These similarities can be appreciated by comparing the bronze elements of both pieces of furniture. Some works by the master, or attributed to him, can be seen in the Dayton Art Institute (United States), in the Musée des Arts Dècoratifs in Paris, in the Luxembourg Embassy in The Hague, in the collection of the National Heritage of Spain, etc.
· Size: 80x44x109 cms.
8.000 €
