Christies: Boulle desk

Igelbrink, Anne

Rich,

Mr. Epstein's desk is by Andre-Charles Boulle and the value is above the 1986 purchase price. However, the side mounts were replaced in the 1760's with the lion's masks (darker brown elbow. dot in each circled area shows where original mount was). This was a normal occurrence in the le century to make earlier pieces more in line with current fashions.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Sotheby's catalogue illustrates a cartonnier (illustrated below) which they described as "later" that came with the desk. Does Mr. Epstein have the cartonnier? It's obviously hard to say from this black and white photo, but stylistically, the cartonnier could be from the 1760's. If so, it was likely made at the same time the lion's masks were put on the sides and would make the desk significantly more valuable.

dimensions 27" high 33" wide 10.75" deep

If Mr. Epstein does have the cartonnier, we would need to see it to verify its age as it will obviously impact the value we give him. Also, what sort of value does Mr. Epstein need? Is he possibly interested in selling the desk?

Kind regards,

Anne

Anne Igelbrink
Vice President, European Furniture

CHRISTIE'S
212.636.2386 (w)

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gmax

Hi. Hope you are well and happy early birthday. Jeffrey asked me to check with you if we have the cartonnier below. Thank you

Rich

Sent from my iPad

Richard Kahn

I do not remember it, but if we do I thought it would be in St fe..but have no memory of it..
Thx

Also taking the opportunity to send you a link to my TED talk that just became
viewable [Redacted]
Happy hols
G

jeffrey E.

i spoke with Anne earlier who informed me of the following:

a) best sale is April 2017 which is their best of the best sale with under 50 lots

b) piece will get a lot of attention as it will be heavily promoted and in catalogues

c) anne returns 1/4/2017 and will revisit her notes and possibly come by to see desk

d) anne will send a consignment agreement and contract for our review (she did not know fees she originally quoted)

e) chrisites would like to pick up desk in January to give them time to review and get ready to be seen by bidders

0 her last valuation was 400-600k and we can set a reserve for the sale (see attached PDF)

g) anne said very important to find cartonier (see photo below) as that may impact value

h) i briefly mentioned braque in passing and she was very excited about that as well - sale for braque is may 2017

Richard Kahn
HBRK Associates Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
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