MATHIEU MATÉGOT (1910-2001) - Lot 18

MATHIEU MATÉGOT (1910-2001) "Unique piece, specially designed and created for the artist's decoration of the attic of Dr Claoué's duplex apartment, Paris, 1961". Island forming living-room furniture, bookcase and cosy area. Complete with its vertical beam, forming the original brass IPN cladding; fastenings by square-headed brass bolts (supplied but not visible in the photographs). The large, quadrangular, birch-veneered pedestal, resting on tapered brass feet supported by circular glides, opens on one side with two recessed sliding solid doors, and on the top with two sliding trapdoors; Its extension, in cherry veneer, is formed by a triangular box with a concave side, opens with a piano-top-type flap and also rests on tapered brass feet; a large wall plaque in cherry veneer completes this construction. A combination of shelves, with a tubular brass structure and accommodating three glass shelves, rises from the top of the quadrangular section and rests on the brass-clad vertical beam. Original brass door and sliding hatch sockets. Equipped with original electrical switch and socket. H. 245 cm - W. 295 cm - D. 225 cm Used condition, chips, cracks, missing parts of veneer, oxidation on brass parts, original IPN left in place due to its load-bearing nature, replaced by a specially designed wooden prop after the island was removed. Provenance and history : Succession Claoué, Paris. In 1956, Mathieu Matégot decorated Dr. Claoué's clinic with furniture made, in part, of lacquered or perforated metal. Included in this ensemble was a large desk with a base sheathed in black saddle-stitched leather and a large clear glass slab top. In 1961, five years after building his clinic, Dr Claoué naturally commissioned the decorator to arrange and decorate the attic rooms above his Paris apartment. Mathieu Matégot designed a marble mosaic floor to accommodate our island, which was topped on the ceiling by a photographic enlargement of the Moon. A tapestry composed by the artist completed the decoration. Bibliography : Patrick Favardin - Mathieu Matégot - Éditions Galerie Matthieu Richard & Éditions Norma, Paris, 2014. Our island, in the attic, featured in a color archival photograph reproduced on full page 284. Expert : Emmanuel Eyraud