CARVED WOOD SCREEN À LA BÉRAIN, 19TH CENTURY

Four-leaf screen in carved wood and marouflaged with Bérain-style paintings. Each pediment has a woman's head wearing a veil and surrounded by a shell motif. The upper part in openwork wood is finely carved and engraved with arabesque motifs and cut leather. The uprights are treated as fluted pilasters. The central part is a marouflaged canvas with grotesque Bérain designs with fine symmetrical arabesques and a dancing putto with a ribbon. In the lower moulded part there is a heraldic motif with an oval coat of arms surrounded by two different birds on each panel: cranes, parrots, vultures and pigeons. The back of the screen has a smooth, undecorated finish with a gold-coloured silk covering.

It is a work of the eclectic movement of the 19th century reproducing the productions of the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century popular under Louis XIV.

Jean Bérain (1640-1711) was an ornamentalist painter who was draughtsman of the Chamber and cabinet of King Louis XIV in 1674. He was responsible for the renewal of grotesque ornament at the end of the 17th century. The Bérain style is characterised by compositions of arabesques, dancing figures and foliage treated in a centred and symmetrical manner. There is also a certain taste for classical architecture. The Bérain style of decoration can be seen in the carved decorations and marquetry.

19th century

Circa: 1870

Dim: W:168cm, D:2cm, H:195cm

Condition report: In good condition. Natural wear from time.