Lot Essay
Jean Desforges, maître before 1730
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark used on any alloy containing copper from March 1745 to February 1749.
This lot belongs to a very rare group of commodes stamped DF (many with the mounts struck with the 'C' couronné) which are decorated with scarlet lacquer or vernis. A virtually identical example, possibly the pair to this lot, was offered at Sotheby's New York, 8 November 1985, lot 351, and another of different design is in the Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1974.356.205).
These form part of a larger group of black lacquer commodes stamped DF, all of which share similar mounts and very precise, high quality panelled construction of the carcass. Amongst the more recent examples to come on the market is an example from the collection of the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, sold Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 69 and one sold Sotheby's New York, 13-15 October 1983, lot 472.
Son of the ébéniste Michel Desforges, Jean Desforges married the sister of the ébéniste Pottier. Appointed maître ébéniste before 1730, he worked in the rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine. The brother-in-law of Guillaume Martin, maître peintre and vernisseur du Roi, Jean Desforges executed principally lacquer and japanned case furniture, almost certainly commissioned by a specific marchand-mercier, with a quality of construction characteristic of his oeuvre (M. Calin Demetrescu, "D.F. Un Ebéniste Identifié", L'Estampille/L'Objet d'art, October 1992, pp. 64-81).
As Desforges was related by marriage to the Martin family of vernisseurs and uncle of the ciseleur Guillaume Desforges, who worked for Latz, it seems most likely that the Martin family were the marchand-merciers for whom he worked, and that his nephew, Guillaume, provided the bronzes dorés.
Bronzes by Desforges can be found equally on the work of other ébénistes such as Carel, Joseph, Migeon, Criaerd, Genty and Hansen. The presence of a label of the marchand-mercier, Darnault, on a commode en console stamped by Hansen (sold by the Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Sotheby's, 8 May 1977, lot 441) might suggest that Darnault was behind Desforges production.
A review of the order book (livre-journal) of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux reveals just how rare scarlet lacquer commodes were during the 18th century. Amongst a hundred commodes which he supplied, only seven were decorated in scarlet lacquer or vernis. One belonged to Madame de Pompadour and was delivered to her before 1748 when it was sent from Versailles to Paris to be restored. Another was billed to the duc d'Orléans in December 1756 for 720 Livres and a third (possibly one presently in the collection of Mme Grog-Carven) was delivered in May 1754 described as "une commode de vernis rouge à pagodes ornée partout en bronze doré d'or moulu le marbre vert de Campan 720 livres".
In 1770 an inventory of the important but little known marchand Hennebert, who specialized in lacquer furniture, details "une commode de quatre pieds en laque rouge de la Chine, garnie de bronze doré avec son dessus de marbre brèche d'Alep".
THE DUCHESSE DE RICHELIEU
Eleanor Douglas Wise was born in Annapolis Maryland on August 19, 1890. At age 23, she married in Baltimore on February 8, 1913 Marie-Odet-Jean-Armand Chapelle de Jumilhac (1875-1952), the last duc de Richelieu. The duchess died in Paris in 1972 and bequeathed a number of pieces to the Musée du Louvre including a table by Jean-François Oeben (OA 10404). Christie's is grateful to M. Daniel Alcouffe, Inspecteur général des musées, for this biographical information (published in Les donateurs du Louvre, Paris, 1989).
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark used on any alloy containing copper from March 1745 to February 1749.
This lot belongs to a very rare group of commodes stamped DF (many with the mounts struck with the 'C' couronné) which are decorated with scarlet lacquer or vernis. A virtually identical example, possibly the pair to this lot, was offered at Sotheby's New York, 8 November 1985, lot 351, and another of different design is in the Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1974.356.205).
These form part of a larger group of black lacquer commodes stamped DF, all of which share similar mounts and very precise, high quality panelled construction of the carcass. Amongst the more recent examples to come on the market is an example from the collection of the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, sold Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 69 and one sold Sotheby's New York, 13-15 October 1983, lot 472.
Son of the ébéniste Michel Desforges, Jean Desforges married the sister of the ébéniste Pottier. Appointed maître ébéniste before 1730, he worked in the rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine. The brother-in-law of Guillaume Martin, maître peintre and vernisseur du Roi, Jean Desforges executed principally lacquer and japanned case furniture, almost certainly commissioned by a specific marchand-mercier, with a quality of construction characteristic of his oeuvre (M. Calin Demetrescu, "D.F. Un Ebéniste Identifié", L'Estampille/L'Objet d'art, October 1992, pp. 64-81).
As Desforges was related by marriage to the Martin family of vernisseurs and uncle of the ciseleur Guillaume Desforges, who worked for Latz, it seems most likely that the Martin family were the marchand-merciers for whom he worked, and that his nephew, Guillaume, provided the bronzes dorés.
Bronzes by Desforges can be found equally on the work of other ébénistes such as Carel, Joseph, Migeon, Criaerd, Genty and Hansen. The presence of a label of the marchand-mercier, Darnault, on a commode en console stamped by Hansen (sold by the Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Sotheby's, 8 May 1977, lot 441) might suggest that Darnault was behind Desforges production.
A review of the order book (livre-journal) of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux reveals just how rare scarlet lacquer commodes were during the 18th century. Amongst a hundred commodes which he supplied, only seven were decorated in scarlet lacquer or vernis. One belonged to Madame de Pompadour and was delivered to her before 1748 when it was sent from Versailles to Paris to be restored. Another was billed to the duc d'Orléans in December 1756 for 720 Livres and a third (possibly one presently in the collection of Mme Grog-Carven) was delivered in May 1754 described as "une commode de vernis rouge à pagodes ornée partout en bronze doré d'or moulu le marbre vert de Campan 720 livres".
In 1770 an inventory of the important but little known marchand Hennebert, who specialized in lacquer furniture, details "une commode de quatre pieds en laque rouge de la Chine, garnie de bronze doré avec son dessus de marbre brèche d'Alep".
THE DUCHESSE DE RICHELIEU
Eleanor Douglas Wise was born in Annapolis Maryland on August 19, 1890. At age 23, she married in Baltimore on February 8, 1913 Marie-Odet-Jean-Armand Chapelle de Jumilhac (1875-1952), the last duc de Richelieu. The duchess died in Paris in 1972 and bequeathed a number of pieces to the Musée du Louvre including a table by Jean-François Oeben (OA 10404). Christie's is grateful to M. Daniel Alcouffe, Inspecteur général des musées, for this biographical information (published in Les donateurs du Louvre, Paris, 1989).