A panel of Wallpaper by Dufour 'Les Incas', France, circa 1818,…
Home » Textiles & Fabrics » Soft Furnishings & Wallpaper » Item No. 154001
click the photo to enlarge
A panel of Wallpaper by Dufour 'Les Incas', France, circa 1818, hand coloured panel part of a series of wallpapers by Dufour some of which are in the collection of the Victoria Albert Museum 224 cm by 135 cm. Literature French scenic Wallpaper 1795-1865, Musee des arts decortifs Flammarion, page 264, the story details the civilization of the natives with a Jesuit priest overseeing an Indian showing an act of mercy to a European settler whilst in the background an oak tree grows defiantly in the foreign landscape and a pagan God perches high on the rocks
circa. A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
oak. Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
The buyers premium is an additional percentage charge on the hammer price of the item, imposed by the auction house to cover administrative costs. The buyers premium percentage varies between auction houses, with a range of 12.5% to 22%.
