Lot Essay
The first mention of this exceptional desk which is decorated throughout in French vernis of the best quality in imitation of Japanese lacquer, comes in documents recently discovered in the Archives Nationales. An inventory drawn up after the death of the marquis de Vallière lists the desk in his Parisian hôtel in the rue du Grand Chantier (now the rue des Archives):
item une secretaire en pupitre laque garni de ses tiroirs en armoires avec ornemans de cuivre doré d'or moulu prisé cent cinquante livres
THE MARQUIS DE VALLIERE
Son of Jean-Florent, marquis de Vallière (1667-1759), himself a directeur général de l'artillerie and chevalier de Saint-Louis, Joseph-Florent was already present at the siege of Phillipsbourg at the age of 17. An arms engineer like his father before him, he became famous and designed a rifle which was named after him. He was a lieutenant general of the army, directeur général of the artillery, governor for the King of Bergues, seigneur d'Allaincourt and a member of the Académie des Sciences. In 1765, he married Marie-Louise-Victoire du Bouchet de Souches.
In the words of the comte de Reiset (quoted in Lezobry, Dictionnaire générale de biographie, 1869):
".... le marquis de Vallière jeune et brillant officier d'artillerie, qui était à peine de retour d'une mission en Espagne, le roi Charles III ayant demandé un officier franç pour organiser l'artillerie et la génie, M. de Vallière y avait été envoyé par Louis XV.
Il s'acquitta si parfaitement de cette honorable mission, que Charles III voulait lui faire en reconnaissance des présents d'argent. Le marquis les refusa, protestant qu'il était assez riche des bienfaits du Roi de France; mais il ne put refuser les magnifiques présents que le roi d'Espagne lui offrit pour les services qu'il lui avait rendus, entre autres un superbe secrétaire de laque et un paravent, qui sont encore en la possession de ses descendants ainsi que le portrait de Charles III lui-même. Ce prince, plus tard, voulut être le parrain de Charlotte de Vallière, fille du marquis, pour qui sa bienveillance et sa bonté se continuèrent jusqu'à la fin".
The family tradition that this desk was a present from Charles III in recognition of Vallière's services to the Spanish crown seems to be contradicted by the archives which make no mention of a royal gift. Furthermore, the marquis didn't leave for Spain until 1761, or some ten years later than the likely date of manufacture of the desk.
JACQUES DUBOIS
Dubois was born at Pontoise on April 7, 1694. Half-brother of the great marchand and ébéniste, Noël Gérard, Dubois became maître on September 5, 1742. His two sons also became ébénistes and his daughter married another, Goyer. As his business prospered, he used increasingly the vernisseur Huitre, who may be responsible for lacquering this desk. Dubois designed and owned the models for his bronzes and subcontracted the casting to the bronziers Heban, Forestier and Castellier and the subsequent gilding to the doreur, Nicolas-Claude Hamelin.
A small group of bureaux of this model exist, all stamped by Dubois:
- one from the collection of Marcel Bissey, sold Binoche et
Godeau, Paris, 6 November 1991, lot 27
- one from the collection of Lady Ludlow, Bath House, sold
Christie's London, 25-26 November 1946, lot 160
- one from the collection of Octave Homberg, sold Galerie Georges
Petit, Paris, 15 March 1933, lot 301
- one from the collection of Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold
Berlin, 16 March 1931, lot 123 and resold by Albert von Goldschmidt- Rothschild, Berlin, 14 March 1933, lot 25
item une secretaire en pupitre laque garni de ses tiroirs en armoires avec ornemans de cuivre doré d'or moulu prisé cent cinquante livres
THE MARQUIS DE VALLIERE
Son of Jean-Florent, marquis de Vallière (1667-1759), himself a directeur général de l'artillerie and chevalier de Saint-Louis, Joseph-Florent was already present at the siege of Phillipsbourg at the age of 17. An arms engineer like his father before him, he became famous and designed a rifle which was named after him. He was a lieutenant general of the army, directeur général of the artillery, governor for the King of Bergues, seigneur d'Allaincourt and a member of the Académie des Sciences. In 1765, he married Marie-Louise-Victoire du Bouchet de Souches.
In the words of the comte de Reiset (quoted in Lezobry, Dictionnaire générale de biographie, 1869):
".... le marquis de Vallière jeune et brillant officier d'artillerie, qui était à peine de retour d'une mission en Espagne, le roi Charles III ayant demandé un officier franç pour organiser l'artillerie et la génie, M. de Vallière y avait été envoyé par Louis XV.
Il s'acquitta si parfaitement de cette honorable mission, que Charles III voulait lui faire en reconnaissance des présents d'argent. Le marquis les refusa, protestant qu'il était assez riche des bienfaits du Roi de France; mais il ne put refuser les magnifiques présents que le roi d'Espagne lui offrit pour les services qu'il lui avait rendus, entre autres un superbe secrétaire de laque et un paravent, qui sont encore en la possession de ses descendants ainsi que le portrait de Charles III lui-même. Ce prince, plus tard, voulut être le parrain de Charlotte de Vallière, fille du marquis, pour qui sa bienveillance et sa bonté se continuèrent jusqu'à la fin".
The family tradition that this desk was a present from Charles III in recognition of Vallière's services to the Spanish crown seems to be contradicted by the archives which make no mention of a royal gift. Furthermore, the marquis didn't leave for Spain until 1761, or some ten years later than the likely date of manufacture of the desk.
JACQUES DUBOIS
Dubois was born at Pontoise on April 7, 1694. Half-brother of the great marchand and ébéniste, Noël Gérard, Dubois became maître on September 5, 1742. His two sons also became ébénistes and his daughter married another, Goyer. As his business prospered, he used increasingly the vernisseur Huitre, who may be responsible for lacquering this desk. Dubois designed and owned the models for his bronzes and subcontracted the casting to the bronziers Heban, Forestier and Castellier and the subsequent gilding to the doreur, Nicolas-Claude Hamelin.
A small group of bureaux of this model exist, all stamped by Dubois:
- one from the collection of Marcel Bissey, sold Binoche et
Godeau, Paris, 6 November 1991, lot 27
- one from the collection of Lady Ludlow, Bath House, sold
Christie's London, 25-26 November 1946, lot 160
- one from the collection of Octave Homberg, sold Galerie Georges
Petit, Paris, 15 March 1933, lot 301
- one from the collection of Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold
Berlin, 16 March 1931, lot 123 and resold by Albert von Goldschmidt- Rothschild, Berlin, 14 March 1933, lot 25