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Spotlight on 20th-century Art & Design

Friday, November 27th 2020

La Gazette Drouot, Caroline Legrand

This sale focuses on modernity—notably with Marc Chagall—the golden age of decorators with Ruhlmann and post-war art with Charlotte Perriand, among others.


Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933), silverware cabinet, c. 1934, Indian rosewood, gilded bronze ornamentation for the knobs and keyhole plates, portor marble top, 101 x 280 x 74 cm (approx. 39.8 x 110.2 x 29.1 in).
Estimate: €40,000/60,000


The “Riesener of Art Deco” is still making news! Who can resist the restrained elegance and luxury of this silverware cabinet? Not Félix Marcilhac, in any case. The design expert had this piece of furniture made c.1934 by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann in his personal collection. He even wrote the certificate of authenticity that will be given to the future owner: “An authentic work […] in rosewood, a variation of the model the artist specially designed and created in violet wood for Van Beuningen in 1931, bearing Émile Jacques Ruhlmann’s reference number 2136.” Pierre and Jocelyne Noury, real estate developers and collectors in Rennes, subsequently acquired this impeccably documented and inventoried piece. Part of their Art Deco furniture and decorative arts collection will be dispersed at the sale. They bought their first piece In the 1980s: a secretary from around 1940 by Jules Leleu with an Indian rosewood veneer (€2,000/3,000). They continued with a maple-veneer cabinet by the same designer, with the same estimate, and an “Orsay” saleswoman’s table made c.1923 by Louis Süe and André Mare in Makassar ebony (€5,000/8,000). For decades they traveled the length and breadth of France in search of Art Deco treasures. Mr. Noury spotted this huge Ruhlmann silverware cabinet in a shop window on rue Bonaparte during a business trip to Paris. He and his wife were soon back at Félix Marcilhac’s gallery in the capital to buy it. It is one of the best examples of how tradition and modernity were combined by the great decorator, who was passionate about Louis XVI and Directory furniture after attending the 1912 Doucet Collection sale. The new 20th-century style also inspired him, like the baseboard frame ending in two spherical volutes recalling the circles of Robert Delaunay’s Rhythms. The long shape and typical height of the support and the sublime precious Indian rosewood veneer evoke the Louis XVI period, while the locks with their modern profile are similar to those made for other creations jointly designed with Jan and Joël Martel—a combination of styles that is always perfectly balanced.

ARTS+DESIGN 4 - Outside the Walls
Saturday 05 December 2020 - Live
Vendôme - Hôtel des Ventes 2, rue Albert Einstein - 41100
Rouillac
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