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Lot Essay
Ren Dubois, matre in 1755
Although it is not stamped, this rare painted secretaire can be attributed to the bniste Ren Dubois who is best known for a celebrated group of painted furniture, some with grisaille panels and others with Vernet-style landscapes, mostly against a green ground. Eighteen examples of this type of painted furniture were described in the inventory of the Dubois workshop when he purchased the inventory of his late father, the accomplished bniste Jacques Dubois (matre in 1742), in 1772, including:
2 autres secrtaires peints en vert avec des tableaux dans les panneaux 1200
deux autres petits secrtaires peints 1000
deux autres secrtaires en armoire plus communs aussi peints 720
The first two secretaires described in the inventory can be most closely identified with one from the Farman collection which was sold Paris, Palais Gallira, Ader Picard Tajan, 15 March 1973, lot 125, and the example in the Schloss Ludwigsburg in Germany, acquired probably by the prince of Hesse in about 1775. These two secretaires are stamped Dubois and are of larger dimensions and are lavishly mounted. The example offered here corresponds more closely to the second type of secretaire described in the inventory.
Dubois generally marketed his own production, however the important marchand-bniste N. Hricourt is known to have sold in 1774 a group of green and cameo-painted furniture including " une armoire en secrtaire ver et blanc de deux pieds de large par quatre pieds deux pouce de haut" to the duchesse de Valentinois.
It has been suggested that the cousin of Ren Dubois, whose name appears in the bniste's accounts of this period, was the painter of these panels (see A. Pradre, Les Ebnistes Franais de Louis XIV la Rvolution, 1989, p. 295). He received 214 livres in 1772.
Other surviving examples of furniture with this type of decoration include a secretaire abattant painted with landscape scenes, a small secretaire-vitrine on stand, and a demilune commode (the latter two with grisaille panels), all stamped I. Dubois and formerly in the collection of Anthony de Rothschild, sold from the Estate of Hlne Beaumont, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 4-6 December 1992, lots 15-17. A further demilune commode with landscape scenes is at Waddesdon Manor, illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. De Rothshild at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. I, p. 224, cat. 49. This commode bears the label of the dealer Granchez "au petit Dunkerque". Two known examples of secretaires of similar form and decoration, one in the Petit Palais, Paris and with a blue ground, the other in a private collection, are illustrated in N. de Reynis, Le Mobilier Domestique, vol. II, Paris, 1987, p. 1105, pl.4191 and p. 1110, pl.4206. A pair of green-ground corner cupboards with oval grisaille central panels formerly in the collection of Baron Alfred de Rothschild is in the Muse Nissim de Camondo, Paris.
Although it is not stamped, this rare painted secretaire can be attributed to the bniste Ren Dubois who is best known for a celebrated group of painted furniture, some with grisaille panels and others with Vernet-style landscapes, mostly against a green ground. Eighteen examples of this type of painted furniture were described in the inventory of the Dubois workshop when he purchased the inventory of his late father, the accomplished bniste Jacques Dubois (matre in 1742), in 1772, including:
2 autres secrtaires peints en vert avec des tableaux dans les panneaux 1200
deux autres petits secrtaires peints 1000
deux autres secrtaires en armoire plus communs aussi peints 720
The first two secretaires described in the inventory can be most closely identified with one from the Farman collection which was sold Paris, Palais Gallira, Ader Picard Tajan, 15 March 1973, lot 125, and the example in the Schloss Ludwigsburg in Germany, acquired probably by the prince of Hesse in about 1775. These two secretaires are stamped Dubois and are of larger dimensions and are lavishly mounted. The example offered here corresponds more closely to the second type of secretaire described in the inventory.
Dubois generally marketed his own production, however the important marchand-bniste N. Hricourt is known to have sold in 1774 a group of green and cameo-painted furniture including " une armoire en secrtaire ver et blanc de deux pieds de large par quatre pieds deux pouce de haut" to the duchesse de Valentinois.
It has been suggested that the cousin of Ren Dubois, whose name appears in the bniste's accounts of this period, was the painter of these panels (see A. Pradre, Les Ebnistes Franais de Louis XIV la Rvolution, 1989, p. 295). He received 214 livres in 1772.
Other surviving examples of furniture with this type of decoration include a secretaire abattant painted with landscape scenes, a small secretaire-vitrine on stand, and a demilune commode (the latter two with grisaille panels), all stamped I. Dubois and formerly in the collection of Anthony de Rothschild, sold from the Estate of Hlne Beaumont, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 4-6 December 1992, lots 15-17. A further demilune commode with landscape scenes is at Waddesdon Manor, illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. De Rothshild at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. I, p. 224, cat. 49. This commode bears the label of the dealer Granchez "au petit Dunkerque". Two known examples of secretaires of similar form and decoration, one in the Petit Palais, Paris and with a blue ground, the other in a private collection, are illustrated in N. de Reynis, Le Mobilier Domestique, vol. II, Paris, 1987, p. 1105, pl.4191 and p. 1110, pl.4206. A pair of green-ground corner cupboards with oval grisaille central panels formerly in the collection of Baron Alfred de Rothschild is in the Muse Nissim de Camondo, Paris.