A Large Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze And Lacquer Casket

Description

A Large Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze And Lacquer Casket.

The pyramidal top centred by a finial modelled as a parrot perched on a branch at the centre of an axis of laurel branch mounts. The top with gilt embossed lacquer surround by concave sloping reserves. The hinged lid opens to a velvet lined interior. The front panel decorated with flower pods and foliage. The sides and back with Japanned lacquer panels. With loop acanthus modelled gilt-bronze handles. Raised on rocaille cast gilt-bronze scrolled feet.

France, Circa 1870.

This casket of large proportions is designed in the Louis XV ‘pittoresque’ style which is characterised by asymmetry, natural motifs, and fluid, sinuous lines. The gilt-bronze mounts, especially the model of a parrot, embody the exotic aspirations of the rococo. The effect of otherworldly opulence is enhanced by the use of costly gilt and black lacquer panels imported from Japan. These lacquer panels, probably part of a larger tableau such as a wall-screen, would have been repurposed to fit the sides of the casket. This continues the practice of lacquer mounted furniture begun in 1740s France by Royal cabinetmakers such as Bernard II van Risenburgh and Jacques Dubois.

The model of the parrot also references another great maker of the Louis XV period, the marchand-ébéniste and sculpteur du Regent Charles Cressent (1685-1768).  A set of wall-lights with very similarly modelled parrots are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/205746