Gervais Durand

Elegant table for G. Durand France Circa 1880 Satinwood, Rosewood, Violetwood, Gilt bronze Height : 70 cm ; Width : 76 cm ; Depth : 47 cm Elegant rectangular table in the Louis XV style, opening with a drawer, made of satinwood, rosewood and violet wood. Resting on four cambered legs decorated with chased and gilded bronze falls and sabots. The top and the belt are decorated with an elegant marquetry in "bois de bout" with stylized flowers and palmettes on a lattice background, characteristic of the work of G. Durand (in D. Ledoux-Lebard. Les ébénistes du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1984, p°183). Biography : Gervais Durand (1839-1920) participated in the 1889 World's Fair, where he won a silver medal. According to the report of the Exhibition by A. Picard, "Mr. Durand, a cabinetmaker, as skilled as he is modest, exhibits for the first time furniture of the highest order, of which he is both the designer and the executor; he follows in the footsteps of masters such as Beurdeley and Dasson. Durand produced almost exclusively replicas of eighteenth century furniture, among which, those made by the most famous Parisian cabinetmaker, supplier of the royal family: B.V.R.B. His works reveal in all points the great harmony between the forms, the marquetry and the bronzes. Related work : Tables of similar model executed around 1745 by B.V.R.B. known and exhibited: Louvre Museum, Museum of Decorative Arts (Paris); Victoria & Albert Museum (London); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)