Nicolas Berthelmy, Regency Corner With Crossbow Facade.

Nicolas Berthelmy, Regency corner cupboard with crossbow facade. This low corner cabinet is a pretty piece of cabinetmaking dating from the Regency period, made in Paris in the 1725s and stamped NB twice for Nicolas Berthelmy. The model is very elegant with a crossbow facade, opening with two doors, the straight uprights with two rows of grooves resting on small curved feet. Built entirely of softwood which corresponds well to the furniture produced in Paris at this period, our corner is also veneered in monochrome, with a veneer of precious wood which is also in the tradition of cabinetmaking furniture from the first third of the 18th century, the veneer used here is violet wood, a very popular wood and one of the most expensive at the beginning of the 18th century. It is used for its color and the very decorative aspect of its veining which is perfectly suited to the most complex curling, here the cabinetmaker based its distribution on diamond panels connected in 4 sheets, the diamond shapes like the grooves give us come from classicism and are here a continuation of the Louis XIV style. Once opened, the doors present a classic veneer work that is frequently found in the first half of the 18th century with two tones of wood, a light local wood for the background, here cherry arranged in a curling pattern forming an inscribed diamond in a rectangle all highlighted by dark wood, violet wood, the same wood as for the front of the furniture. The interior is furnished with 2 period shelves, this corner piece of furniture has a particularity, its bottom is truncated which is not visible from the outside. The piece of furniture is topped with a thick marble top perfectly following the crossbow shape of the facade, doubly molded with a quarter-round fillet and a corbin beak. The whole is in very good condition, varnished with a pad. Our corner is therefore stamped twice NB on the top, under the marble, this stamp has for some time been identified as that of Nicolas Berthelmy, received master according to the Kjellberg in 1735, and known with the stamp N.BERTHELMI in full, the use of initials as for our furniture is found on productions stylistically Louis furniture bearing the NB stamp is the quality of production and the strong decorative power, thanks to the work of Daniel Alcouffe published in 2008 on the “artisan wood decorators in the Faubourg Saint Antoine under the reign of Louis XIV” we let's learn more about cabinetmakers in a period where the stamp is only a "possibility" and this is particularly the case for Nicolas Berthelmy, a cabinetmaker whom we meet quite rarely and of whom we know very little if this is that he lived in the main street of Faubourg Saint Antoine from 1731, that he obtained his master's degree in 1735 and that he is mainly known for a few Louis XV chests of drawers "some of which are of very fine quality" (source: " Dictionary of cabinetmakers and joiners" by Pierre Kjellberg), Daniel Alcouffe's work tells us that: Nicolas Berthelmy was born around 1676, he began his apprenticeship in 1692 with the cabinetmaker Pierre Godelart, who became a cabinetmaker he married Geneviève Carré, he lived rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine, from 1706 he took on different young people, telling us that he trained and employed staff for his cabinetmaking activity. We assume that the furniture stamped NB are those produced or sold by Bethelmy before his date of mastery in 1735, which also corresponds perfectly to the constructions and stylistic study of the furniture. At the beginning of the reign of Louis XV Nicolas Berthelmy was one of the old Parisian cabinetmakers, having experienced the classicism of Louis He is a contemporary of Etienne Doirat, the two cabinetmakers were born in the same years, Doirat died younger in 1732. We observe the same quality and attention to detail in the two masters. At the death of Etienne Doirat, Nicolas Berthelmy appears as debtor, he therefore traded together, there is therefore the possibility that Doirat supplied works to Berthelmy. Marble dimensions: Height: 88 cm Depth side: 51.5 cm