AN EARLY LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH BUREAU PLAT, BY NOEL GERARD, CIRCA 1732-1736

AN EARLY LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH BUREAU PLAT
BY NOEL GERARD, CIRCA 1732-1736
The leather-lined top over three drawers with central cartouche-form escutcheon and floral-cast mounts behind each drop handle, the sides with cavorting bacchic putti, the angles with female masks, stamped NG twice to underside of carcass, one mount incised IB
31 ½ in. (80 cm.) high, 76 in. (193 cm.) wide, 37 in. (94 cm.) deep

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Provenance
The Rt. Hon. Lord Brownlow, Ashridge Park, Hertfordshire and Belton House, Lincolnshire.
With Duveen Bros. Inc., New York.
Mrs. Hamilton Rice; Sotheby's, London, 17 May 1963, lot 171.
With David Grey Gallery, London.
The Estate of Ogden Phipps; Sotheby's, New York, 19 October 2002, lot 106.

Saleroom Notice
Please note that the frame beneath the top and above the drawers has probably been replaced, to give the bureau plat greater stability. This was probably undertaken in the 19th century, possibly after Lord Brownlow’s acquisition of the bureau plat, which is potentially confirmed by the pencil inscription ‘front’ to the top of this framing.

Literature
Apollo, June 1965, pl. LXXXVIX.
The Connoisseur, June 1965, p. 111.
A. Pradere, Les ébénistes Français de Louis XIV a la Révolution, p. 110.