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Lot Essay
Martin Carlin, maître in 1766.
Gaspard Schneider, maître in 1786.
Edmé-François Bouillat père, was a painter at Sèvres from 1758-1810.
Étienne-Henry Le Guay l'aîné, later père, was active initially as a painter then as a gilder at the Sèvres factory from 1748-49, then again from 1751-96.
Amongst the most sophisticated creations of the combined genius of the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and the ébéniste Martin Carlin, and certainly amongst the most expensive, this model of a jewel coffer stands as one of the masterpieces of the Louis XVI period.
RELATED EXAMPLES
Only eight other jewel coffers are known:
1. Private Collection, France. Signed by Carlin, fitted with plaques with green borders bearing date letters for 1770. Given to Marie-Antoinette on the occasion of her marriage to the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, on May 16, 1770. Probably the first of these pieces. Bearing inventory marks for Marie-Antoinette's garde meuble, marked after 1784. In the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, hôtel de Saint-Florentin (recorded in the salon Rubens in 1905), his son Baron Edouard de Rothschild, Mr. Habib Sabet, Mr. Roberto Polo and sold at auction, Ader Tajan, Paris, November 7, 1991, lot 153, ill. It is now at Versailles.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Kress Collection (58.75.41), unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1770, based on the Sèvres plaques with date letters for 1768 and 1770 and 1775 (probably a replacement), decorated with green borders. This is the earliest version to appear in an 18th century account and was made for the château de Fontainebleau but delivered by Poirier to Madame du Barry's apartments at Versailles in December, 1770. Poirier's bill records: Un coffre de porcelaine de France fond vert à cartouche de fleurs et très richement orné de bronze doré d'or moulu ainsi que son pied. 1800 L. See J. Parker, E. Standen, C. Dauterman, Decorative Art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964, pp. 126-132, pls. 96, 97, 98, 100.
3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Wrightsman Collection ( 1976.155 109), 1774, unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1774, based on the date letters on the Sèvres plaques. See F. J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, 1966, vol. I, no. 90, pp. 140-145. Decorated with turquoise border. Formerly in the collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensbery.
4. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Dodge Collection, unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1774, based on the Sèvres plaques. Decorated with turquoise borders and scattered sprigs of roses. Formerly in the collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Pavlovsk Palace. See T. Dell, The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1996, pp. 55-60.
5. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Kress Collection (58.75.42.), unsigned but attributed to Carlin. The Sèvres plaques have no date letters, but Parker links them to plaques delivered to Poirier in 1775. See Parker, op. cit., 33, pls. 101, 102, 103.
6. Private Collection (Madame Léon Barzin), Paris, signed Carlin. Decorated with turquoise borders. Formerly in the collection of Sir Alfred de Rothschild. See Pradère, op. cit., p. 357, ill.; see also Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, II, nos. 99 and 100.
7. Private Collection (Madame Léon Barzin), Paris. Formerly in the collection of Sir Alfred de Rothschild. See Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, II, nos. 99 and 100; see also F. J. B. Watson, Connoisseur, January, 1964, pp. 3-11, pl. II.
8. Private Collection. Decorated with green borders and with a repaired or replaced lock. This example is now thought to be the piece owned by the comtesse de Provence, and was recorded in an inventory of the palais du Luxembourg taken in 1792, after the couple fled France. See Parker, op. cit., p. 129 for a full description.
Besides the jewel coffers of Marie-Antoinette and Mme du Barry, two additional coffers are mentioned in 18th Century records. One in the inventory of Louise Bathilde d'Orléans, duchesse de Bourbon in 1779 and again in 1797 and the second in the sale of the Duchesse de Mazarin, December 1781, lot 259.
THE SACHSEN-TESCHEN ALBUM
The connection between this group of jewel coffers and a drawing of a jewel coffer of this model in the Sachsen-Teschen albums in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has often been noted. This drawing is part of a group of sheets all dated 1770-1785 which include designs for furniture, clocks, ormolu mounts and other hardware, almost exclusively in the newly fashionable neoclassical taste (M. Meyers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, 1991, no. 116, pp. 195-196). All of these drawings were originally in the collection of Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen, whose wife was the sister of Marie-Antoinette. It has been suggested that the drawings were part of the design process and while several of the drawings do show measurements and other indications of production, they are probably too refined to have been used only by the craftsmen and were likely instead for the client's use (Parker, op. cit., p. 281 and Myers, op. cit., p. 196). These same notes and some unfinished aspects of the drawings also indicate that they were not an illustrated inventory of the decorative arts collected by the Duke and his wife, as has also been suggested. Probably these drawings depict objects produced (often with variations) and sent to the Duke by the Parisian marchands-merciers, most notably Dominique Daguerre as proposed acquisitions. In effect, therefore, these functioned as a sort of mail order catalogue.
The di Portanova jewel coffer can, however, be linked more securely than any of the other surviving jewel caskets to that illustrated in the Sachsen-Teschen album now in the Metropolitan Museum. Although the Sèvres porcelain plaques in the wash drawing are slightly imprecise, they match almost perfectly with the plaques in the present piece. The blue and rose colors in the drawing also reinforce this connection with the present piece, whose porcelain plaques have generally cooler tones than the other coffers.
That there are discrepancies between the drawing and the di Portanova coffer is to be expected. Like other objects depicted in these drawings which can now be compared to surviving objects there are many differences. The most obvious difference between the present piece and the other eight known coffers (as well as the Metropolitan drawing) is the substitution of the cabriole legs and their rococo mounts with the neoclassical-style legs and mounts. However, it is also the only piece of this group that has shelf-stretchers similar to the single shelf-stretcher suggested in the drawing. Another slight difference between the present piece and all of the known pieces and the Metropolitan drawing is the replacement of the hinged-shaped corner mounts with smaller acanthus ones.
The elimination of the most obvious rococo elements and the later date of this piece further reinforces its connection to the Sachsen-Teschen collection and the decoration of their palace of Schoonenberg. While the palace was built between 1782 and 1785, the furnishing continued until at least 1786, but probably lasted until their flight in 1789. In 1786, they visited Paris unofficially as the comte and comtesse de Bely. Marie-Antoinette's correspondence records that, among other gifts and purchases for Brussels, her sister visited Daguerre in August. As both the exterior and interiors of the palace were being newly built in the already well-established neoclassical style, the furniture certainly would have been coordinated as well. Along with these drawings, other known pieces from their collection are purely neoclassical in design (see Christie's, Monaco, 12 December, 1999, lot 918). A visitor described the palace in 1789: 'The apartments are superb, and enriched with some beautiful Seve porcelain, presented by the Queen of France: but amongst its ornaments pictures have not yet found a place' (Parker, op. cit., p. 130).
It is also possible, of course, that either the jewel coffer illustrated in Duke Albert's album was never ordered or it was lost at sea, along with other pieces from Schoonenberg, when one of two ships evacuating their collections from Brussels sank off the German coast.
DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE
In the 1780s, Daguerre was the most famous marchand-mercier in Paris, supplying the court at Versailles and Saint Cloud as well as the most important foreign clients. And like his predeccesor Poirier, he held a virtual monopoly on the purchasing of Sèvres porcelain plaques. The Sèvres archives, during the first half of 1778 record a number of plaques delivered to Daguerre whose price markings correspond exactly with those on the offered lot: two at 36 livres, two at 30 livres, five at 54 livres, and three at 78 livres. This suggests that the plaques on the di
Portanova coffer were purchased by Daguerre who then commissioned the
piece from Martin Carlin. The Sèvres kiln records record that these plaques were all painted by Bouillat. Edmé-François Bouillat père, specialized in flower painting and was one of the most prolific painters at Sèvres, providing Daguerre with 73 plaques in 1778 alone (See R. Savill, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, vol. III, London, 1988, p. 1003).
CARLIN AND SCHNEIDER
Although signed by Schneider, this coffer can be confidently be attributed to Carlin, based on the other eight nearly identical coffers that are all either signed by Carlin, or attributed to him. Carlin had long been supplying the marchands-merciers with some of the finest Sèvres-mounted furniture. Schneider, born in Augsburg, is recorded working in the rue de Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 1780s and in 1785 married Carlin's widow. From the inventory taken of Carlin's workshop after his death, it is known that Schneider inherited a valuable amount of his stock and continued to supply Daguerre (Pradère, op. cit., p. 419). It is possible that the di Portanova coffer was unfinished at Carlin's death, and the new legs, mounts and shelves were fitted and finished by Schneider in the prevailing neoclassical taste. Alternatively, Daguerre may have kept it in stock and commissioned Schneider to update the base in the neoclassical style or this may simply have been a repair.
THE SACHSEN-TESCHEN COLLECTION AND THE PALACE OF SCHOONENBERG-LAECKEN
Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822) and his wife Archduchess Marie-Christina were intimately connected to the courts of Dresden, Vienna and Versailles. Albert's father was the Elector Auguste III of Saxony and Marie-Christina was the daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria and her sister, Marie-Antoinette married Louis XVI of France. The couple's collections reflected, above all, their close aesthetic ties to the decorative arts of France. In 1780, they were named joint governors of the Low Countries, and settled in Brussels. From 1782 to 1785 their official residence was constructed, then called the palace of Schoonenberg, under the Parisian architect Charles de Wailly. The interior of the neoclassical palace, decorated by Gilles Paul Cauvet, centered around a large circular salon and was furnished with pieces ordered from Paris, many from the marchand-merciers supplying the French court. In 1789, as French Revolutionary troops approached Brussels, the Duke and Archduchess fled. They returned for only a single year from 1791-1792 and then left for permanent exile in Vienna. There, the Austrian Emperor Francis II offered them the renovated Albertina Palais where they installed their collection. This formed the beginning of the celebrated collection of prints and drawings still housed in the Albertina. The Palace of Schoonenberg, subsequently confiscated, was sold and in 1804 bought by Napoleon and renamed Laecken. It became the residence of William I of the Low Countries and subsequently that of the Belgian royal family. Largely rebuilt after a fire in 1890, the palace remains the residence of the King of Belgium.
THE ROTHSCHILD COLLECTION AND THE HÔTEL SAINT-FLORENTIN
In 1838, Dorothée, duchesse de Dino, heiress of her uncle the statesman Talleyrand, sold the Hôtel Saint-Florentin to James de Rothschild. The hôtel was originally built for the duc de la Vrillière and comte de Saint-Florentin at the corner of the rue Saint-Florentin and the rue de Rivoli at the Place de la Concorde. It was never occupied by James and in 1857 his son Alphonse, together with his wife Leonora, the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild, moved into the house. In 1863 James purchased several of the adjoining houses and was able to expand the building considerably. The reconstruction, directed by James, lasted from 1863 until his death in 1868. Alphonse, along with his two brothers Gustave and Edmond, inherited the hôtel but they sold their shares to Alphonse in 1871. Alphonse undertook further reconstruction in 1871. While much of the original and Rothschild-period decoration has been removed, some of the original neoclassical and Louis XVI-style interiors from the 1863 reconstruction are still in situ. These include carved panels taken from Madame du Barry's pavillion at Louveciennes, built for her by Ledoux, and a large marble niche created specially to display Pigalle's statue of L'amitié sous les traites de Madame de Pompadour (See M. Prevost-Marcilhacy, Les Rothschild: bâtisseurs et mécènes, 1995, p. 315). Since 1950 the hôtel has belonged to the United States Embassy. The Portanova coffer, as well as the coffer listed as no. 1 in the above list, were both recorded in the salon Rubens at the hôtel Saint-Florentin in 1905.
Other pieces incorporating this same model of base by Schneider include two consoles, one sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 4 March 1989, lot 225, the other sold Ader Ricard Tajàn, Paris, 11 March 1991, lot 169. Two secretaires with this model of foot include one in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, and another from the Collection of Marcel Bissey, sold Paris, 6 November 1991, lot41.
Gaspard Schneider, maître in 1786.
Edmé-François Bouillat père, was a painter at Sèvres from 1758-1810.
Étienne-Henry Le Guay l'aîné, later père, was active initially as a painter then as a gilder at the Sèvres factory from 1748-49, then again from 1751-96.
Amongst the most sophisticated creations of the combined genius of the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and the ébéniste Martin Carlin, and certainly amongst the most expensive, this model of a jewel coffer stands as one of the masterpieces of the Louis XVI period.
RELATED EXAMPLES
Only eight other jewel coffers are known:
1. Private Collection, France. Signed by Carlin, fitted with plaques with green borders bearing date letters for 1770. Given to Marie-Antoinette on the occasion of her marriage to the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, on May 16, 1770. Probably the first of these pieces. Bearing inventory marks for Marie-Antoinette's garde meuble, marked after 1784. In the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, hôtel de Saint-Florentin (recorded in the salon Rubens in 1905), his son Baron Edouard de Rothschild, Mr. Habib Sabet, Mr. Roberto Polo and sold at auction, Ader Tajan, Paris, November 7, 1991, lot 153, ill. It is now at Versailles.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Kress Collection (58.75.41), unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1770, based on the Sèvres plaques with date letters for 1768 and 1770 and 1775 (probably a replacement), decorated with green borders. This is the earliest version to appear in an 18th century account and was made for the château de Fontainebleau but delivered by Poirier to Madame du Barry's apartments at Versailles in December, 1770. Poirier's bill records: Un coffre de porcelaine de France fond vert à cartouche de fleurs et très richement orné de bronze doré d'or moulu ainsi que son pied. 1800 L. See J. Parker, E. Standen, C. Dauterman, Decorative Art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964, pp. 126-132, pls. 96, 97, 98, 100.
3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Wrightsman Collection ( 1976.155 109), 1774, unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1774, based on the date letters on the Sèvres plaques. See F. J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, 1966, vol. I, no. 90, pp. 140-145. Decorated with turquoise border. Formerly in the collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensbery.
4. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Dodge Collection, unsigned but attributed to Carlin. Dated 1774, based on the Sèvres plaques. Decorated with turquoise borders and scattered sprigs of roses. Formerly in the collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Pavlovsk Palace. See T. Dell, The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1996, pp. 55-60.
5. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Kress Collection (58.75.42.), unsigned but attributed to Carlin. The Sèvres plaques have no date letters, but Parker links them to plaques delivered to Poirier in 1775. See Parker, op. cit., 33, pls. 101, 102, 103.
6. Private Collection (Madame Léon Barzin), Paris, signed Carlin. Decorated with turquoise borders. Formerly in the collection of Sir Alfred de Rothschild. See Pradère, op. cit., p. 357, ill.; see also Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, II, nos. 99 and 100.
7. Private Collection (Madame Léon Barzin), Paris. Formerly in the collection of Sir Alfred de Rothschild. See Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, II, nos. 99 and 100; see also F. J. B. Watson, Connoisseur, January, 1964, pp. 3-11, pl. II.
8. Private Collection. Decorated with green borders and with a repaired or replaced lock. This example is now thought to be the piece owned by the comtesse de Provence, and was recorded in an inventory of the palais du Luxembourg taken in 1792, after the couple fled France. See Parker, op. cit., p. 129 for a full description.
Besides the jewel coffers of Marie-Antoinette and Mme du Barry, two additional coffers are mentioned in 18th Century records. One in the inventory of Louise Bathilde d'Orléans, duchesse de Bourbon in 1779 and again in 1797 and the second in the sale of the Duchesse de Mazarin, December 1781, lot 259.
THE SACHSEN-TESCHEN ALBUM
The connection between this group of jewel coffers and a drawing of a jewel coffer of this model in the Sachsen-Teschen albums in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has often been noted. This drawing is part of a group of sheets all dated 1770-1785 which include designs for furniture, clocks, ormolu mounts and other hardware, almost exclusively in the newly fashionable neoclassical taste (M. Meyers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, 1991, no. 116, pp. 195-196). All of these drawings were originally in the collection of Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen, whose wife was the sister of Marie-Antoinette. It has been suggested that the drawings were part of the design process and while several of the drawings do show measurements and other indications of production, they are probably too refined to have been used only by the craftsmen and were likely instead for the client's use (Parker, op. cit., p. 281 and Myers, op. cit., p. 196). These same notes and some unfinished aspects of the drawings also indicate that they were not an illustrated inventory of the decorative arts collected by the Duke and his wife, as has also been suggested. Probably these drawings depict objects produced (often with variations) and sent to the Duke by the Parisian marchands-merciers, most notably Dominique Daguerre as proposed acquisitions. In effect, therefore, these functioned as a sort of mail order catalogue.
The di Portanova jewel coffer can, however, be linked more securely than any of the other surviving jewel caskets to that illustrated in the Sachsen-Teschen album now in the Metropolitan Museum. Although the Sèvres porcelain plaques in the wash drawing are slightly imprecise, they match almost perfectly with the plaques in the present piece. The blue and rose colors in the drawing also reinforce this connection with the present piece, whose porcelain plaques have generally cooler tones than the other coffers.
That there are discrepancies between the drawing and the di Portanova coffer is to be expected. Like other objects depicted in these drawings which can now be compared to surviving objects there are many differences. The most obvious difference between the present piece and the other eight known coffers (as well as the Metropolitan drawing) is the substitution of the cabriole legs and their rococo mounts with the neoclassical-style legs and mounts. However, it is also the only piece of this group that has shelf-stretchers similar to the single shelf-stretcher suggested in the drawing. Another slight difference between the present piece and all of the known pieces and the Metropolitan drawing is the replacement of the hinged-shaped corner mounts with smaller acanthus ones.
The elimination of the most obvious rococo elements and the later date of this piece further reinforces its connection to the Sachsen-Teschen collection and the decoration of their palace of Schoonenberg. While the palace was built between 1782 and 1785, the furnishing continued until at least 1786, but probably lasted until their flight in 1789. In 1786, they visited Paris unofficially as the comte and comtesse de Bely. Marie-Antoinette's correspondence records that, among other gifts and purchases for Brussels, her sister visited Daguerre in August. As both the exterior and interiors of the palace were being newly built in the already well-established neoclassical style, the furniture certainly would have been coordinated as well. Along with these drawings, other known pieces from their collection are purely neoclassical in design (see Christie's, Monaco, 12 December, 1999, lot 918). A visitor described the palace in 1789: 'The apartments are superb, and enriched with some beautiful Seve porcelain, presented by the Queen of France: but amongst its ornaments pictures have not yet found a place' (Parker, op. cit., p. 130).
It is also possible, of course, that either the jewel coffer illustrated in Duke Albert's album was never ordered or it was lost at sea, along with other pieces from Schoonenberg, when one of two ships evacuating their collections from Brussels sank off the German coast.
DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE
In the 1780s, Daguerre was the most famous marchand-mercier in Paris, supplying the court at Versailles and Saint Cloud as well as the most important foreign clients. And like his predeccesor Poirier, he held a virtual monopoly on the purchasing of Sèvres porcelain plaques. The Sèvres archives, during the first half of 1778 record a number of plaques delivered to Daguerre whose price markings correspond exactly with those on the offered lot: two at 36 livres, two at 30 livres, five at 54 livres, and three at 78 livres. This suggests that the plaques on the di
Portanova coffer were purchased by Daguerre who then commissioned the
piece from Martin Carlin. The Sèvres kiln records record that these plaques were all painted by Bouillat. Edmé-François Bouillat père, specialized in flower painting and was one of the most prolific painters at Sèvres, providing Daguerre with 73 plaques in 1778 alone (See R. Savill, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, vol. III, London, 1988, p. 1003).
CARLIN AND SCHNEIDER
Although signed by Schneider, this coffer can be confidently be attributed to Carlin, based on the other eight nearly identical coffers that are all either signed by Carlin, or attributed to him. Carlin had long been supplying the marchands-merciers with some of the finest Sèvres-mounted furniture. Schneider, born in Augsburg, is recorded working in the rue de Faubourg Saint-Antoine in the 1780s and in 1785 married Carlin's widow. From the inventory taken of Carlin's workshop after his death, it is known that Schneider inherited a valuable amount of his stock and continued to supply Daguerre (Pradère, op. cit., p. 419). It is possible that the di Portanova coffer was unfinished at Carlin's death, and the new legs, mounts and shelves were fitted and finished by Schneider in the prevailing neoclassical taste. Alternatively, Daguerre may have kept it in stock and commissioned Schneider to update the base in the neoclassical style or this may simply have been a repair.
THE SACHSEN-TESCHEN COLLECTION AND THE PALACE OF SCHOONENBERG-LAECKEN
Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822) and his wife Archduchess Marie-Christina were intimately connected to the courts of Dresden, Vienna and Versailles. Albert's father was the Elector Auguste III of Saxony and Marie-Christina was the daughter of Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria and her sister, Marie-Antoinette married Louis XVI of France. The couple's collections reflected, above all, their close aesthetic ties to the decorative arts of France. In 1780, they were named joint governors of the Low Countries, and settled in Brussels. From 1782 to 1785 their official residence was constructed, then called the palace of Schoonenberg, under the Parisian architect Charles de Wailly. The interior of the neoclassical palace, decorated by Gilles Paul Cauvet, centered around a large circular salon and was furnished with pieces ordered from Paris, many from the marchand-merciers supplying the French court. In 1789, as French Revolutionary troops approached Brussels, the Duke and Archduchess fled. They returned for only a single year from 1791-1792 and then left for permanent exile in Vienna. There, the Austrian Emperor Francis II offered them the renovated Albertina Palais where they installed their collection. This formed the beginning of the celebrated collection of prints and drawings still housed in the Albertina. The Palace of Schoonenberg, subsequently confiscated, was sold and in 1804 bought by Napoleon and renamed Laecken. It became the residence of William I of the Low Countries and subsequently that of the Belgian royal family. Largely rebuilt after a fire in 1890, the palace remains the residence of the King of Belgium.
THE ROTHSCHILD COLLECTION AND THE HÔTEL SAINT-FLORENTIN
In 1838, Dorothée, duchesse de Dino, heiress of her uncle the statesman Talleyrand, sold the Hôtel Saint-Florentin to James de Rothschild. The hôtel was originally built for the duc de la Vrillière and comte de Saint-Florentin at the corner of the rue Saint-Florentin and the rue de Rivoli at the Place de la Concorde. It was never occupied by James and in 1857 his son Alphonse, together with his wife Leonora, the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild, moved into the house. In 1863 James purchased several of the adjoining houses and was able to expand the building considerably. The reconstruction, directed by James, lasted from 1863 until his death in 1868. Alphonse, along with his two brothers Gustave and Edmond, inherited the hôtel but they sold their shares to Alphonse in 1871. Alphonse undertook further reconstruction in 1871. While much of the original and Rothschild-period decoration has been removed, some of the original neoclassical and Louis XVI-style interiors from the 1863 reconstruction are still in situ. These include carved panels taken from Madame du Barry's pavillion at Louveciennes, built for her by Ledoux, and a large marble niche created specially to display Pigalle's statue of L'amitié sous les traites de Madame de Pompadour (See M. Prevost-Marcilhacy, Les Rothschild: bâtisseurs et mécènes, 1995, p. 315). Since 1950 the hôtel has belonged to the United States Embassy. The Portanova coffer, as well as the coffer listed as no. 1 in the above list, were both recorded in the salon Rubens at the hôtel Saint-Florentin in 1905.
Other pieces incorporating this same model of base by Schneider include two consoles, one sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 4 March 1989, lot 225, the other sold Ader Ricard Tajàn, Paris, 11 March 1991, lot 169. Two secretaires with this model of foot include one in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, and another from the Collection of Marcel Bissey, sold Paris, 6 November 1991, lot41.