An ornate sculptural cabinet by Jean-Pierre-Alexandre Tahan is to auction at Sotheby's.
It's valued at £80,000-120,000 ($119,136-178,704) ahead of the sale of the Polo Collection on February 24 in London.
 Jean-Pierre-Alexandre Tahan was Napoleon II's official cabinet maker |
Tahan (1813-1892) was a French cabinet maker whose extraordinary skill saw him appointed as the official furniture maker of Napoleon II.
The present lot is a collaboration with fellow carpenter Francis-Simon-Alphonse Giroux.
It's a hugely elaborate and ambitious work, as Sotheby's explains: "The present meuble a hauteur d'appui (side-cabinet) is a tour de force of sculpture and design, cleverly leading the viewer to contemplate allegories of autumn and even referring to the wine harvest and the mythology surrounding Dionysus."
Auguste-Emile Ringuet-Leprince and Michel-Joseph-Napoleon Lienard's Cabinet en Console (1851) is valued at £80,000-120,000 ($119,136-178,704).
Leprince moved from Paris to New York in the late 1840s, where he became hugely successful. The present lot dates to 1851 and was built to a design by Lienard, best known for his carvings for a swathe of European palaces and cathedrals.
The collection runs the gamut from the 19th century to mid-century and features an incredible who's who of European designers.
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