An Exquisite Pair of Mid 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Style Kingwood and Fruitwood Marquetry and Parquetry Cabinets – Béfort Jeune

$65,000

Mathieu Béfort dit Béfort Jeune

Each with three large ormolu putti along the center and corners holding up a scroll, the two doors designed with beautiful inlaid floral marquetry within a bronze frame and surrounded by a scrolling foliate vine motif, the top front and sides with inlaid cube parquetry decor, each cabinet opening to three long shelves.

Stamped BF for Maison Béfort on the back of some of the bronzes. The mark BF found on the cabinets is most certainly an early way of signing his creations.

Mathieu Béfort (1813-1880) known as Béfort Jeune was the son of Jean-Baptiste Béfort (1783-1840), who was of Belgian origin and renowned for having supplied furniture for the apartments of the Duc d’Orléans.  His older brother Bernard Béfort was active between 1836 and 1858, which was the date after which Mathieu took over the business until 1878.  As a gifted ébèniste-marqueteur he specialized in Boulle-style marquetry and in particularly high quality work inspired by the work of André-Charles-Boulle himself. He was established at numbers 1 and 6 rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles in Paris from 1844 to 1880. Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener reputedly took over the Béfort firm circa 1880.

Details:
Height – 64 inches / 163cm
Width – 54 inches / 137cm
Depth – 18 inches / 46cm