GRANDE COMMODE EN NOYER, BOIS FRUITIERS ET... - Lot 83 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

GRANDE COMMODE EN NOYER, BOIS FRUITIERS ET BOIS NOIRCI, MARBRES ANTIQUES, ITALIE, ROME, ÉPOQUE BAROQUE, XVIIE SIÈCLE A BAROQUE WALNUT, FRUITWOOD, EBONISED AND ANTIQUE MARBLE COMMODE, ROMAN, 17TH CENTURY ouvrant par cinq tiroirs 130 x 156 x 64 cm; 51 1/4 x 61 1/2 x 25 1/4 in. with five front drawers PROVENANCE Galerie Perpitch, Paris Cette commode se trouvait dans l'ancien appartement de Pierre Berge a l'hotel Lutetia, Paris. Cette importante commode est semblable a celle provenant de la collection Marcel Puech (sa vente Paris, Tajan, le 8 novembre 1999, lot 69) et a celle vendue par Sotheby's, Rome, le 18 mai 2004, lot 429 provenant d'un palais de la place Farnese. Elle peut egalement etre comparee a deux commodes similaires, formant bureaux, du palais Barberini de Rome ayant fait partie du musee des arts industriels. This rare commode is similar to two models, one in the sale of the collection of Marcel Puech (Tajan, Paris, 8th November 1999, lot 69) and the other one sold at Sotheby's Rome, 18th May 2004, lot 429) from a palazzo on the Piazza Farnese. Our commode could also be compared to two other models in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome formerly in the Museum of industrial Arts in Rome. SOMETIMES IN LIFE YOU COME ACROSS EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE Sometimes in life you come across exceptional people. Pierre Bergé was one of these. On receiving our book he wanted to meet us. He had come to Tangier to see one of our projects and was impressed. A connoisseur of Morocco who had known the country very well for so many years, he found our interpretation - the link with the past and the subtle hint of Italy that went well with the exoticism of the place - to be remarkable. Some time afterwards he called and asked us to meet up again in Paris. He wanted to show us a house he had for a few years and had never lived in. We were partly flattered, partly a little anxious. A cultivated Frenchman, reno