”SECRETER “Á ABATTANT”. GILT BRONCE, MARQUETRY, PORCELAIN, CLOTH, MARBLE. SIGNED HYPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT (ParIs, France, 1812-1855).

Secretary “à abattant”. Fine woods, marquetry, interior with drawers in rosewood and textile, gilded bronze and enameled porcelain; marble top. Signed HYPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT (Paris, 1812-1855). XIX century. Secretary with top cover in light veined marble and rectangular floor plan, with a base with curved bottoms and rounded corners highlighted with diamond marquetry and golden metal applications reminiscent of classicism. The sides have a diamond feather decoration on the wood in the central area, separated by two gilded bronze moldings that extend across the three fronts; At the top, the same compositional scheme is repeated. The front front concentrates the decoration: a composition framed by feathering based on flowers and plant elements in a delicate marquetry for each of the drawers that, on the small door, appears highlighted by a bronze molding and accompanied by an enameled porcelain plate . This one features two cupids on a celestial background, as well as a frame made of this same metal. Opening this small door, one discovers a small desk with a fabric-covered top and four drawers flanking a central space, located under another rectangular space. The corners of the furniture also have classicist dolphins and children's grotesques with the lower half of the body transformed into plant elements and volutes. The furniture features a signature linked to Hippolyte-Edme Pretot, a Parisian cabinetmaker who established himself on Rue de l'Abbaye in 1836, moved to Rue Saint-Germain in 1841 and, from 1846, to Rue de Harlay. He showed some of his best work at the Exposition Nationale in France in 1849 and at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 he won a Medal. It is possible to compare the present example with the lines of a Napoleon III “cabinet” in “pietra dura”, ebonized wood and gilded bronze that has been dated around 1850 and is preserved in a private collection, similarities that can be appreciated by also comparing the elements. in bronze of both pieces of furniture. It is possible to see some works by the master, or attributed to him, in the Dayton Art Institute (United States), in the Musée des Arts Dècoratifs in Paris, in the Luxembourg Embassy in The Hague, in the National Heritage collection of Spain, etc

· Size: 80x44x109 cms.