Lot 283: Attributed to Pierre Gole (1620-1684) Exceptional two body Cabinet in tortoiseshell, ebony and mother-of-pearl marquetry, Dutch work of the late 17th century

Solid ebony and tortoiseshell placage with grotesque characters decors in gilded brass finely inlaid with mother-of-pearl and mythological creatures. The table corresponds to the same author of the cabinet with two Ionic columns. Measurements: 86 x 44 x 97 cm (table), 84 x 40 x 90 cm (cabinet). Pierre Gole (ca. 1620, Bergen, North Holland - November 27, 1684) was one of the most important cabinetmakers of the Louis XIV period active in France. Born in Bergen, in the Dutch Republic, he moved to Paris at a very young age. Golle was the creator of the marquetry of tortoiseshell and brass, called by André-Charles Boulle “Boulle marquetry”. The Boulle dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinetmakers lasted until the mid-18th century. Golle had been employed by Cardinal Mazarin before being taken under royal protection from 1656, Golle is described in documents as maître menuisier en ébène ordinaire du roi (“master cabinetmaker in the king's ordinary ebony”). By 1681 he had his own workshop. From 1662, he supplied marquetry cabinets and numerous pieces of furniture for the use of the king and the Grand Dauphin at Versailles and other royal palaces; the most expensive were several cabinets delivered over several years for the extraordinary sum of 6,000 pounds each. For the marquetry floor of the Grand Dauphin's Doré Cabinet he was paid 7,500 pounds; the dazzling interior was swept away in further redecorations after the Dauphin's death in 1711. Works in comparison: Christophe Huchet de Quénetain, “Un bureau de Pierre Golle (1620-1685)”, L'Estampille-L'Objet d'Art, n° 416, September 2006; a cabinet by the same author preserved in the Paul Getty Museum, acquired by the same institution in 1982, J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 11 (1983:13-66), a third example, formerly belonging to the Duchesse de Fontagnes, made circa 1680 and preserved in the Musée Jacquemart-Andre, Paris. Provenance: important Spanish private collection.