Lot Essay
Adam Weisweiler, maître in 1778.
This Etruscan-black and ormolu-enriched secretaire, with its column-supported marble top and stretcher-shelf, is conceived in the Louis XVI 'antique' or Pompeiian manner promoted by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (d.1796). Daguerre's English visitors to his atelier 'au couronne d'or' in 1785 included Henry Holland (d.1806), architect to George, Prince of Wales, and his patron George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (d.1836), and a pair of 'desks' of this identical pattern, both stamped by Weisweiler, formed part of the Earl's furniture 'en lacque', which he commissioned for his new French appartment at Spencer House, London. These latter secretaires, made following the Anglo-French treaty of 1786 and the establishment of Daguerre's London premises in Piccadilly in 1788, were supplied by the marchand-mercier in 1791 and remain at Althorp House, Northamptonshire (F. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1960, no.149 and P.Thornton and J.Hardy, 'The Spencer Furniture at Althorp', Apollo, October 1968, fig. 15, pl.XVII).
This exotic fashion had first been adopted by Daguerre in 1783 for the secretaire almost certainly executed by Weisweiler, which he had supplied to Louis XVI's cabinet Intérieur at Versailles on the 11 January 1784 (O.Impey and J.Whitehead, 'From Japanese box to French Royal furniture', Apollo, September 1990, p.163). The King's secretaire incorporated three lacquer landscape panels, in 17th Century Dutch taste, displayed in lozenged-window compartments within nashiji frames. These were taken from a Japanese chest dating from circa 1640, and this chest, whose fourth side was incorporated by Daguerre into a table for Marie-Antoinette, appears originally to have served as a 'close stool'. Probably serving as a pair to the close-stool listed in the 1729 Inventaire Général des Meubles de la Couronne as 'Une chaise d'affaires fond de vernis noir et avanturine du japon, à paysages et oiseaux de relief doré..', this is thought to have originally belonged to Cardinal Richelieu (d.1642), Minister to Louis XIII. This latter 'chaise d'affaires' features a similar cockerel to that displayed on this secretaire (ibid., p.159, fig.1).
This secretaire, whose Japanese lacquer and vernis Martin panels stylistically date from the later 17th Century, was almost certainly supplied by Daguerre in the late 1780's or early 1790's. Acquired by the Rothschild's in the 19th Century, it is branded to the reverse with a Rothschild inventory mark. A further pair of almost identical secretaires, clearly executed in the same workshop, was sold from the collection of Lucien Guiraud, in Paris, 14 June 1956, lot 184.
ADAM WEISWEILER
Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maître in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. He worked closely with the marchand-merciers Julliot and Daguerre and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, but the luxury pieces, for which he is best known, were sold mostly through Daguerre. The latter, who counted the French, Neapolitan and Russian Royal families amongst his clientele, enjoyed particular favour in England under the patronage of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and even established a shop in 1788 in Piccadilly to supply the English nobility. Weisweiler remained active until 1809, and it was his long-standing association with Daguerre that enabled him to contine to work for the export trade during the Revolution, thus allowing him to avoid the bankruptcy that befell so many of his colleagues.
This Etruscan-black and ormolu-enriched secretaire, with its column-supported marble top and stretcher-shelf, is conceived in the Louis XVI 'antique' or Pompeiian manner promoted by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (d.1796). Daguerre's English visitors to his atelier 'au couronne d'or' in 1785 included Henry Holland (d.1806), architect to George, Prince of Wales, and his patron George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (d.1836), and a pair of 'desks' of this identical pattern, both stamped by Weisweiler, formed part of the Earl's furniture 'en lacque', which he commissioned for his new French appartment at Spencer House, London. These latter secretaires, made following the Anglo-French treaty of 1786 and the establishment of Daguerre's London premises in Piccadilly in 1788, were supplied by the marchand-mercier in 1791 and remain at Althorp House, Northamptonshire (F. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1960, no.149 and P.Thornton and J.Hardy, 'The Spencer Furniture at Althorp', Apollo, October 1968, fig. 15, pl.XVII).
This exotic fashion had first been adopted by Daguerre in 1783 for the secretaire almost certainly executed by Weisweiler, which he had supplied to Louis XVI's cabinet Intérieur at Versailles on the 11 January 1784 (O.Impey and J.Whitehead, 'From Japanese box to French Royal furniture', Apollo, September 1990, p.163). The King's secretaire incorporated three lacquer landscape panels, in 17th Century Dutch taste, displayed in lozenged-window compartments within nashiji frames. These were taken from a Japanese chest dating from circa 1640, and this chest, whose fourth side was incorporated by Daguerre into a table for Marie-Antoinette, appears originally to have served as a 'close stool'. Probably serving as a pair to the close-stool listed in the 1729 Inventaire Général des Meubles de la Couronne as 'Une chaise d'affaires fond de vernis noir et avanturine du japon, à paysages et oiseaux de relief doré..', this is thought to have originally belonged to Cardinal Richelieu (d.1642), Minister to Louis XIII. This latter 'chaise d'affaires' features a similar cockerel to that displayed on this secretaire (ibid., p.159, fig.1).
This secretaire, whose Japanese lacquer and vernis Martin panels stylistically date from the later 17th Century, was almost certainly supplied by Daguerre in the late 1780's or early 1790's. Acquired by the Rothschild's in the 19th Century, it is branded to the reverse with a Rothschild inventory mark. A further pair of almost identical secretaires, clearly executed in the same workshop, was sold from the collection of Lucien Guiraud, in Paris, 14 June 1956, lot 184.
ADAM WEISWEILER
Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maître in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. He worked closely with the marchand-merciers Julliot and Daguerre and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, but the luxury pieces, for which he is best known, were sold mostly through Daguerre. The latter, who counted the French, Neapolitan and Russian Royal families amongst his clientele, enjoyed particular favour in England under the patronage of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and even established a shop in 1788 in Piccadilly to supply the English nobility. Weisweiler remained active until 1809, and it was his long-standing association with Daguerre that enabled him to contine to work for the export trade during the Revolution, thus allowing him to avoid the bankruptcy that befell so many of his colleagues.