A Louis XVI Style Marquetry Sideboard Or Buffet Depicting Ruins And Landscapes - Stamped Lemas

Large buffet or sideboard with a central projection, veneered with marquetry depicting ruins and landscapes. The piece opens with three drawers in the frieze and two doors. The rounded uprights rest on slightly curved legs terminating in bronze lion's paw feet. Aleppo breccia marble top. High-quality bronze mounts.
Superb marquetry composed of rosewood and various exotic woods (rosewood, amaranth, boxwood, etc.).
Height: 112 cm; Width: 166 cm; Depth: 65 cm. Stamped A. Lemasle – Late Louis XVI period.
Excellent condition – restored in our workshop – French polished. Shipping included within France.

Biography: According to "Les ébénistes du XVIIIème siècle" by François de Salverte, Lemasle ran a cabinetmaking shop in Nantes, on Place Saint-Nicolas, towards the end of Louis XVI's reign. Although not a member of the carpenters' guild, he had most of his merchandise manufactured at his own expense in a workshop employing about a dozen workers. In 1795, a furniture factory run by the Lemasle brothers, likely sons of the aforementioned Lemasle, still existed in Nantes opposite the Bourse (Stock Exchange).

Bibliography: 1-F. de Salverte, Les ébénistes du XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1975, pl. LX.
2-O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, vol. 1, pl. 35-36, Nos. 65-67
3-G. de Bellaigue, Ruins in Marquetry, Apollo, 1968
4-G. de Bellaigue, Engravings and the French 8th-century marquetry, Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240-250
5-T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, vol. V, Princeton 1992, p. 364
6- Pierre Kjellberg, le mobilier français du XVIIIème, page 521.

r secretary, were commissioned works, as demonstrated by Geoffroy de Bellaigue (3-4), the client choosing the engravings to be reproduced according to their tastes.