A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTE/JARDINIERE

BY ADAM WEISWEILER, ALMOST CERTAINLY COMMISSIONED BY DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE

Details
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTE/JARDINIERE
By Adam Weisweiler, almost certainly commissioned by Dominique Daguerre
The removable moulded, eared breakfronted rectangular grey bardiglio marble top enclosing a part lead-lined well with sliding base, veneered in the round with rectangular panels within a channelled mille-raies border and flanked by mille-raies panels, on six square tapering cut-cornered legs applied with further mille-raies panels, joined by a similarly-shaped grey bardiglio marble undertier with beaded and chanelled panels, on turned tapering fluted toupie feet with brass caps and castors, originally with further liner, inscribed 'H', stamped twice 'A WEISWEILER'
40 in. (101.5 cm.) wide; 36 in. (92 cm.) high; 14¾ in. (37.5 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

Adam Weisweiler, maître in 1778.

Almost certainly commissioned by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre from the ébéniste Adam Weisweiler, this console was supplied for a pier between two windows. Veneered on all sides, it was designed with castors so that it could be transformed into 'une table de salon' if brought away from the wall.

The inventory taken following the death of comte Francois Martial de Choiseul Beaupré, Menin du Dauphin and Lieutenant Général des armées du Roi, in 1792, described, in the salon of his hôtel on the quai Malaquai:

'deux consoles de bois d'acajou à double fond garnie de cuivre, anneaux et perles de cuivre doré surmonté de leur tablettes de marbre garnies en dedans de caisse de plomb pour recevoir des caisses 240'

Although the ormolu mounts are not identical, this type of console jardinière was obviously deemed to be sufficiently rare to be described at length. Known as 'table à fleurs' in the 18th Century, Weisweiler's contemporaries Jean-Henri Riesener and Ferdinand Bury are also known to have made them.

Stylistically typical of the ébénisterie produced between 1785 and 1790, this console is characteristic of Weisweiler's oeuvre. Thus, distinctive characteristics such as the ormolu panels also feature on the commode delivered by Daguerre for the chambre à coucher of the comtesse de Provence at Versailles in 1787, while the general form is related to the Weisweiler console mounted with Wedgwood plaques which was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 4 December 1975, lot 83.

Mlle. Lemonier, in her monograph on Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 190, also notes that Weisweiler stamped a 'jardinière en citronnier'.

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