Attributed to A. Barraud
(French, ca. 1820)
Table a Volets Veneered in Noeud De Vigne
29 x 54 ¼ x 22 inches (73.5 x 137.5 x 56 cm), open
29 x 33 ¼ x 22 inches (73.5 x 84.5 x 56 cm), closed
Of noeud de vigne, rosewood and brass. The rectangular top with fall flaps at each end, supported by folding hinged brackets. The top and fall flaps each edged with a border of brass stringing and centered by a panel of noeud de vigne, the top above a frieze set to the front with two drawers veneered in noeud de vigne and lined with solid satinwood. The whole raised on outward facing scrolling s-shaped ends, joined by a shaped x-stretcher and raised on four outward curving feet, all with brass-inlaid edges.
Provenance:
Important San Francisco Collection.
This highly unusual table is almost identical in form to a table stamped A. Barraud circa 1825 (Fig. 1), formerly in the celebrated collection of Roger Imbert. The table shares the same strikingly fluid form of the present piece with the distinctive scrolling s-shaped legs joined by wavy x-stretchers and raised on stylized cabriole feet.
The table belongs to a small group of Continental furniture pieces veneered in ‘noeud de vigne.’ This technique is created by cutting the end grain of vine branches that are laid in pleasing patterns (here radially in the center and randomly on flaps, drawers and stretcher) and infilled with cuts of the thinner shoots of the vine. An indication of the costliness and sophistication of this rare medium is the existence of an important Louis XVI régulateur à équation by Berthoud with enamel dials by Coteau, whose entire casing, attributed to Balthazar Lieutand, is inlaid using this technique (Fig. 2).[i]
From at least 1835 A. Barraud was established at premises at 26, rue Neuve Saint-Eustache and 66, rue Saint-Nicholas-d'Antin. His business seems to have thrived as in 1845 he acquired a further premises at 2, boulevard des Italiens. A bureau by Barraud, today part of the collection of the Mobilier National, was formerly in the collection of the royal residence the Château de Meudon.[ii]
The present table is of exceptional quality, the use of solid satinwood drawer linings apparently unprecedented. An extraordinary quality of craftsmanship is displayed in the overall execution and in the complexity of the design.
Fig. 1. Sofa table stamped A. Barraud, formerly in the collection of Robert Imbert.
Fig. 2. An important Louis XVI régulateur à équation by Berthoud with dial by Coteau, whose entire casing, attributed to Balthazar Liutand, is inlaid using noeud de vigne.
[i] Formerly in the London art trade.
[ii] Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 39.