Nicolas-Alexandre LAPIE, admitted as a master cabinetmaker i - Lot 485

Nicolas-Alexandre LAPIE, admitted as a master cabinetmaker in Paris on August 17, 1764. Chest of drawers with an ornate front made of wood and violet wood veneer, featuring a reserved-field design within frames of light-colored wood molding. The front features three drawers and is adorned with beautiful gilded bronze ornamentation, including lock plates, drawer pulls, and front feet. The top is made of veined gray marble with a beak-of-corbin molding. Stamped. Louis XV period. Height: 82 cm Width: 98 cm Depth: 55 cm Peeling and missing veneer, restored marble. Nicolas Alexandre Lapie, son of Nicolas Lapie, a faience merchant in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, was born around 1730; he registered his master’s certificate at the Châtelet in Paris in 1764; and less than eleven years later, on February 8, 1775, he died at his home on Rue de Charenton. Lapie used the mark N-A-LAPIE, an ink impression of which can be seen on the official record of the seals affixed to his home after his death. The same document lists, among the pieces he left in progress, about twenty small tables known as “chiffonnières.” During his eleven-year career, he produced numerous chiffonnière tables and other Louis XV, Transition, or Louis XVI-style furniture of a classical design, finished with veneer or marquetry. His goods were sold at public auction on the following March 2.