French 19th Century Louis XV Style Gilt Bronze-Mounted Kingwood Bureau Plat Desk

A very fine and large French 19th century Louis XV style ormolu-mounted mahogany and kingwood three-drawer bureau plat attributed to Paul Sormani (French-Italian 1817-1877). The shaped rectangular top enclosing a gilt tooled brown leather writing surface within a molded border above a long central drawer enclosing a fine modeled mask of Hercules wearing the Nemean lion pelt centered by flat cast encadrements and rosewood veneered a quatre faces flanked by two short drawers with reticulated escutcheons of scantly clad frolicking putti and doves over gadrooned "C" scrolls, trellis patterned panels on a stylized shell within similarly framed encadrements raised on elegant cabriole legs surmounted by bearded satyr masks ending in acanthus case hairy paw feet beneath sides centering bacchic masks. Lock mechanism stamped W S M, 6068, a key (lacking skeleton key), and 148. Veuve Paul Sormani Et Fils was the widow of the highly esteemed furniture maker Paul Sormani (French-Italian 1817-1877). After his death around 1877 she and her son took over the management of the company continuing the tradition of producing fine French furniture of the highest calibre. An escutcheon and several mounts were examined on the reverse, and each was found to have the bronze master model initials "SJ:. Blue chalk inscription on underside Glle 117, Paris, circa 1880. Paul Sormani (1817-1877): Born in Venice, Paul Sormani set up in Paris in the middle of the 19th century. He specialized in creating furniture and works of art and was known for his high quality reproductions of Louis XV and XVI furniture...

A fine French 19th century Louis XVI style ebonized gilt bronze-mounted tulipwood, kingwood and fruitwood floral marquetry single-drawer center table, desk or writing table. The ornately decorated marquetry top, centered with a floral bouquet, butterflies, scrolls and acanthus. The raised on four fluted ebonized legs surmounted with gilt-bronze spigots...

19th century, French Louis XV style wood centre desk with gilt bronze This elegant centre desk, therefore finished on all four sides, was made in the 19th century in France, in the Louis XV style. The slightly wavy and curved top has a green leather insert, stamped along the gold border. On the front the cabinet has three drawers: a central and two deeper side. The four legs are arched and give gracefulness to the overall composition. The feet have bronze gilded and chiselled tips with volutes and vegetable...

An exceptional and rare late 19th century gilt bronze mounted Louis XV Style Bureau Plat Attributed to Zwiener Attributed to Joseph Zwiener The serpentine case with a rectangular top with gilt-tooled leather writing-surface within a molded border above a quarter-veneered frieze, three drawers to the front and three simulated drawers to the reverse each flanked by a large putto, the sides centered with a fine bronze Apollo mask, the cabriole legs mounted with sea shell bronze designs with foliate-cast sabots. Born in Herdon, Germany, in 1849, Joseph Emmanuel Zwiener followed the tradition of some of the best ébnistes of the nineteenth century. He moved to Paris establishing a workshop at 12, rue de la Roquette, between 1880 and 1895. He produced a wide array of the very finest furniture, modelling in his own interpretations of the eighteenth century Louis XV Rococo style, veneered with the highest and finest quality marquetry and ‘Vernis Martin’ panels. Exhibiting at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1889, Zwiener was awarded a gold medal for what the jury reported as ‘dè ses dèbuts à une Exposition Universelle, [il] s’est mi au premier rang par la richesse, la hardinesse, et le fini de ses meubles incrustés de bronze et fort habilment marquetés.’ Zwiener was closely associated with François Linke, and the two houses produced work which, at first glance, is remarkably similar and with occasionally identical mounts. The similarities are made more likely by the fact that the brilliant sculptor, Léon Messagé, worked initially for Zwiener and subsequently, upon Zwiener’s departure for Berlin to work on furniture commissioned by Freidrich Wilhelm II , he was employed in the workshop of François Linke. It appears that Zwiener, unlike Linke, did not sign all his work, although some stamped pieces with his name and/or his “Z” initial are documented. There is some uncertainty between the recorded stamp E. Zwiener and the work of a Julius Zwiener...