Lot Essay
Jean-Henri Riesener, ébéniste du Roi, maître in 1768.
Conceived as a pier-commode-table of sarcophagus or tapered Roman-bath form, this magnificent commode has a projecting tablet-centre flanked by elliptic and splayed ends and is supported on tripod-hermed pilasters that terminate in plinth-supported Bacchic lion feet emerging from Roman acanthus. Its overall proportion and form, with breakfront tablet and lion-paw feet is characteristic of the oeuvre of the ébéniste du Roi Gilles Joubert (1689-1775). They featured, for instance on the parquetry commode delivered by Joubert in 1769 for the chambre of Madame Louise, Louis XV's youngest daughter at the château de Versailles; this is now in the J.Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (accession number 55.DA.5).
However, Riesener's first recorded delivery to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne was not until February 1771. Moreover, only 12 pieces were delivered by Riesener before Louis XV's death in 1774, five of which were made in the first months of 1774. Riesener did not, however remain inactive, as he is mentionned as one of the duchesse de Brancas's suppliers in 1769, and the young Dauphine Marie-Antoinette purchased over 3000 livres of furniture from him during the first two years after her arrival in France (1770-2).
If the commode's line and proportions are therefore perhaps a little archiac, harking back as they do to the late 1760's, the ormolu mounts place it firmly in the vanguard of fashion circa 1775. The apron-mount, for instance is shared with the commodes and encoignures supplied by Riesener for the Cabinet Intérieur de la Reine between 1774-9, now in the collection of H.M. the Queen at Windsor Castle (P.Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1994, no.13, pp.144-8), as well as on both the commode delivered by J.H.Riesener for la chambre de Madame the comtesse de Provence at Versailles in March 1776 and on that for Madame Elizabeth in 1778 (G. de Bellaigue,The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, vol.1, nos.53-4, pp.239-254).
Moreover, the superb marquetry pastoral trophy, celebrating Peace and Plenty with an illusion to Ovid's Metamorphoses and the story of the love's of the Spring deities Vertumnus and Pomona, reappears in Riesener's oeuvre. The identical panel, for instance, can be seen on the commode supplied to Madame Elizabeth in 1778 (G. de Bellaigue, op.cit., no.54, p.246-50).
Although the provenance remains tantalisingly untraced, the distinctive marquetry of the frieze tablet with ribbon-tied fleur de lys and carnations may well allude to a Bourbon wedding with an as yet unidentified family, whose emblem was the carnation. This possibility of a Royal provenance may well explain the apparent stylistic analogies between the Joubert form of 1769, Riesener's brand and bronzes dorées of the mid-1770's. It is, therefore extremely interesting that Riesener is known to have re-used a Joubert carcase, probably acquired at the sale of the latter's atelier in 1775, for the commode he delivered to the Garde-Meuble in 1783 (P.Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1994, no.11, pp.76-9).
Conceived as a pier-commode-table of sarcophagus or tapered Roman-bath form, this magnificent commode has a projecting tablet-centre flanked by elliptic and splayed ends and is supported on tripod-hermed pilasters that terminate in plinth-supported Bacchic lion feet emerging from Roman acanthus. Its overall proportion and form, with breakfront tablet and lion-paw feet is characteristic of the oeuvre of the ébéniste du Roi Gilles Joubert (1689-1775). They featured, for instance on the parquetry commode delivered by Joubert in 1769 for the chambre of Madame Louise, Louis XV's youngest daughter at the château de Versailles; this is now in the J.Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (accession number 55.DA.5).
However, Riesener's first recorded delivery to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne was not until February 1771. Moreover, only 12 pieces were delivered by Riesener before Louis XV's death in 1774, five of which were made in the first months of 1774. Riesener did not, however remain inactive, as he is mentionned as one of the duchesse de Brancas's suppliers in 1769, and the young Dauphine Marie-Antoinette purchased over 3000 livres of furniture from him during the first two years after her arrival in France (1770-2).
If the commode's line and proportions are therefore perhaps a little archiac, harking back as they do to the late 1760's, the ormolu mounts place it firmly in the vanguard of fashion circa 1775. The apron-mount, for instance is shared with the commodes and encoignures supplied by Riesener for the Cabinet Intérieur de la Reine between 1774-9, now in the collection of H.M. the Queen at Windsor Castle (P.Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1994, no.13, pp.144-8), as well as on both the commode delivered by J.H.Riesener for la chambre de Madame the comtesse de Provence at Versailles in March 1776 and on that for Madame Elizabeth in 1778 (G. de Bellaigue,The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, vol.1, nos.53-4, pp.239-254).
Moreover, the superb marquetry pastoral trophy, celebrating Peace and Plenty with an illusion to Ovid's Metamorphoses and the story of the love's of the Spring deities Vertumnus and Pomona, reappears in Riesener's oeuvre. The identical panel, for instance, can be seen on the commode supplied to Madame Elizabeth in 1778 (G. de Bellaigue, op.cit., no.54, p.246-50).
Although the provenance remains tantalisingly untraced, the distinctive marquetry of the frieze tablet with ribbon-tied fleur de lys and carnations may well allude to a Bourbon wedding with an as yet unidentified family, whose emblem was the carnation. This possibility of a Royal provenance may well explain the apparent stylistic analogies between the Joubert form of 1769, Riesener's brand and bronzes dorées of the mid-1770's. It is, therefore extremely interesting that Riesener is known to have re-used a Joubert carcase, probably acquired at the sale of the latter's atelier in 1775, for the commode he delivered to the Garde-Meuble in 1783 (P.Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, Paris, 1994, no.11, pp.76-9).