Lot Essay
Jean-Louis Morin, painter at Sèvres 1754-87
THE VERNIS DECORATION
The colouring of the original green vernis would have been identical to the decoration of the Kress Collection table in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Metropolitan Museum Accession no. 58.75.46). This same colour can also be seen on a métier à tapisserie that appears in Francois-Hubert Drouais' portrait of Madame de Pompadour seated in her grand cabinet at Versailles, previously in the collection of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild at Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire and now in the National Gallery, London
THE PLATEAU COURTEILLE
Named after one of the protecteurs of the Manufacture de Sèvres, déjeuners Courteille were first produced in 1758. However, it was not until July 1760 that the first unmounted plateau (that is to say, without handles) appears in the sales records. A pair of plateaux, decorated on a green ground with scenes after Teniers, were offered to de Courteille in December 1761. Valued at 328 livres each, it appears that plateaux Courteille cost 300 livres when they were sold (the public price minus the 10 commission)
As the Archives Nationales de Manufacture du Sèvres reveal, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier (1720-85) of the rue Saint-Honoré à la Couronne d'Or, held a virtual monopoly over the plateaux, purchasing plateau Courteille or chiffonnière (as they were called without handles) to the value of 300 livres in 1761, 1762 and 1764, and another at a cost of 360 livres in 1763
The two plateaux with handles offered to M. de Courteille were not, however, found on the table mentioned in the cabinet of Mme. de Courteille in 1767:-
no. 202 une petite chiffonière de bois pint et verni en bleue garnie d'un tiroir avec son dessus la tablette du milieu de porcelaine de Sèvre peint à cartouche dorée représentan paysage orné en cuivre doré
The probable authors of de Courteille's table en chiffonnière are revealed amongst the list of creditors at his death Poirier - marchand 2049 livres
Martin - vernisseur pour 2568 livres
SIMON-PHILIPPE POIRIER AND THE
'PLATEAU COURTEILLE' TABLES
Referred to as a table en chiffonnière in the 18th Century, owing to their use by ladies 'pour le dépôt de leurs ouvrages au chiffons', this form of table developed from the prototype tables de cabaret of the late 17th Century, which appeared following the visit to France of the Ambassador of Siam. Most commonly ornamented with a top lacquered in Paris, they rested on either giltwood, vernis or marquetry stands
As early as 1748, the marchand Lazare Duvaux sold M. Boucher de Saint Martin:-
une table de vernis en vert et fleurs garnie en velours et cornets argentés avec un cabaret aussi verni, quatre tasses et soucoupe, pot à sucre et théière de Saxe fond vert à fleurs naturelles
It seems that the earliest table with a Sèvres porcelain plaque was produced in 1752. In October of that year, the inventories describe 'Une table en cinq pièces', and in February 1754, five parts of a plaque 'd'une table pour le turc' were fired in the kiln. This plaque, now in a French private collection, was delivered at a cost of 1200 livres to M. Aulagnier:-
Une table en cinq morceaux bleu célèste fleurs 1200 livres
Poirier can be credited with the idea of combining the previously disparate elements of a plateau courteille, which originally served as a tray for cups and teapots, without its handles, with a vernis table frame, the porcelain being much less sensitive to heat and therefore far more practical
Their popularity was widespread and it is interesting to note that Horace Walpole owned a closely related table at Strawberry Hill, Middlesex, almost certainly acquired from Poirier during Walpole's visits to Paris in 1765-6
THE 'TENIERES' SCENE
The two figures in the foreground derive from the engraving by Jacques- Philippe Le Bas (d.1783) of La quatrième fête flamande after David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), in which they are reversed
Rustic scenes of this type were introduced into Sèvres designs circa 1758 and first appeared in the Sales Records of December 1759. Generally called 'Tenieres', even when not inspired by particular paintings by that artist, they reached their fashionable peak before the mid-1760's. The painters who specialised in such 'pittoresque' scenes at the Sèvres factory included Dudin, Vielliard, Catou and Morin
The same scene appears on a Sèvres cuvette à fleur courteille in the Wallace Collection (F329/C490), as well as on one of a pair of flower vases (C208-9) and a single vase (C226) (see R. Savill, op. cit., 1, p. 46 and p. 48)
RVLC and BVRB
This table en chiffonnière belongs to a small group of related porcelain-mounted tables executed by Roger Vandercruse, dit Lacroix (RVLC) (maître in 1755) and Bernard van Risenburgh (BVRB) (maître in 1735). Decorated with marquetry, parquetry or, more unusually, with vernis martin, they tend to have a stretcher with either complementary marquetry or, occasionally, with a further plaque It would appear that Poirier commisioned this group from either ébéniste without preference, each following his own distinctive model
The attribution to RVLC is based on the proximity of this table en chiffonnière with that stamped by RVLC in the Wallace Collection (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F. 326 pp.181-2, pl. 102). With its distinctive flat-arched apron, it shares identical mounts (although the escutcheon of the Wallace example has been removed to the front). The Wallace plaque also bears the date letter for 1760, but was decorated by Ledoux (1758-61) with animals and birds in an exotic landscape. Of this group, a closely related table with identical apron mount, previously in the collection of Alfred de Rothschild, was sold by Almina, Countess of Carnarvon in these Rooms, 19 May 1925, lot 295, and again from the Succession de Mme. Hélène Beaumont, Sotheby's Monaco, 4-6 December 1992, lot 20; another, stamped by RVLC, is in the collection of the Marquis of Bath at Longleat House, Wiltshire (illustrated in P. Verlet, French Furniture and Interior Decoration of the 18th Century, London, 1967, p. 196, fig. 163); another, also stamped RVLC, is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo (illustrated in 'Musée Nissim de Camondo', Catalogue, n.d., no. 194); a further two, originally from the collection of the late Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, were sold by the comtesse d'Aubigny in these Rooms, 1 July 1976, lot 99-100; and, finally, an unstamped example identical to that in the Wallace was in the Goldschmidt-Rothschild Collection at Frankfurt
The group of related tables by BVRB have been studied by D. Alcouffe in 'Louis XV, un moment de perfection d l'Art Français', Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1974, p. 332 and are further discussed by A. Sassoon in his article 'New Research on a Table stamped by Bernard van Risenburgh', The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 9, Malibu, 1981, p. 167-174. The BVRB tables are distinct from those of RVLC by the less accentuated cabriole of the leg and the fact that the drawer is in the front, rather than the sides. Of this group, four are incontrovertibly by BVRB: that in the Musée du Louvre, the plaque dated 1764 (A. Sassoon, op. cit,. fig. 7); that in a French private collection (ibid., fig. 15); and two tables in the Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in J. Parker et al., op. cit., nos. 29 and 30, figs. 128-132). Three further examples are in the Musée du Louvre (A. Sassoon, op. cit., fig. 7), the Getty Museum (ibid., fig. 1) and in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (ibid., fig. 14)
The suggestion in the Kress Collection Catalogue (J. Parker et. al., op. cit., p. 163) that the 'small green vernis martin work table belonging to the Marquis of Cholmondeley was formerly in the collection of Lord Hillingdon' appears to be erroneous, as it is not listed in the privately printed catalogues of either Wildernesse Park, Kent or Camelford House, Park Lane, W.1.
THE VERNIS DECORATION
The colouring of the original green vernis would have been identical to the decoration of the Kress Collection table in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Metropolitan Museum Accession no. 58.75.46). This same colour can also be seen on a métier à tapisserie that appears in Francois-Hubert Drouais' portrait of Madame de Pompadour seated in her grand cabinet at Versailles, previously in the collection of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild at Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire and now in the National Gallery, London
THE PLATEAU COURTEILLE
Named after one of the protecteurs of the Manufacture de Sèvres, déjeuners Courteille were first produced in 1758. However, it was not until July 1760 that the first unmounted plateau (that is to say, without handles) appears in the sales records. A pair of plateaux, decorated on a green ground with scenes after Teniers, were offered to de Courteille in December 1761. Valued at 328 livres each, it appears that plateaux Courteille cost 300 livres when they were sold (the public price minus the 10 commission)
As the Archives Nationales de Manufacture du Sèvres reveal, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier (1720-85) of the rue Saint-Honoré à la Couronne d'Or, held a virtual monopoly over the plateaux, purchasing plateau Courteille or chiffonnière (as they were called without handles) to the value of 300 livres in 1761, 1762 and 1764, and another at a cost of 360 livres in 1763
The two plateaux with handles offered to M. de Courteille were not, however, found on the table mentioned in the cabinet of Mme. de Courteille in 1767:-
no. 202 une petite chiffonière de bois pint et verni en bleue garnie d'un tiroir avec son dessus la tablette du milieu de porcelaine de Sèvre peint à cartouche dorée représentan paysage orné en cuivre doré
The probable authors of de Courteille's table en chiffonnière are revealed amongst the list of creditors at his death Poirier - marchand 2049 livres
Martin - vernisseur pour 2568 livres
SIMON-PHILIPPE POIRIER AND THE
'PLATEAU COURTEILLE' TABLES
Referred to as a table en chiffonnière in the 18th Century, owing to their use by ladies 'pour le dépôt de leurs ouvrages au chiffons', this form of table developed from the prototype tables de cabaret of the late 17th Century, which appeared following the visit to France of the Ambassador of Siam. Most commonly ornamented with a top lacquered in Paris, they rested on either giltwood, vernis or marquetry stands
As early as 1748, the marchand Lazare Duvaux sold M. Boucher de Saint Martin:-
une table de vernis en vert et fleurs garnie en velours et cornets argentés avec un cabaret aussi verni, quatre tasses et soucoupe, pot à sucre et théière de Saxe fond vert à fleurs naturelles
It seems that the earliest table with a Sèvres porcelain plaque was produced in 1752. In October of that year, the inventories describe 'Une table en cinq pièces', and in February 1754, five parts of a plaque 'd'une table pour le turc' were fired in the kiln. This plaque, now in a French private collection, was delivered at a cost of 1200 livres to M. Aulagnier:-
Une table en cinq morceaux bleu célèste fleurs 1200 livres
Poirier can be credited with the idea of combining the previously disparate elements of a plateau courteille, which originally served as a tray for cups and teapots, without its handles, with a vernis table frame, the porcelain being much less sensitive to heat and therefore far more practical
Their popularity was widespread and it is interesting to note that Horace Walpole owned a closely related table at Strawberry Hill, Middlesex, almost certainly acquired from Poirier during Walpole's visits to Paris in 1765-6
THE 'TENIERES' SCENE
The two figures in the foreground derive from the engraving by Jacques- Philippe Le Bas (d.1783) of La quatrième fête flamande after David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), in which they are reversed
Rustic scenes of this type were introduced into Sèvres designs circa 1758 and first appeared in the Sales Records of December 1759. Generally called 'Tenieres', even when not inspired by particular paintings by that artist, they reached their fashionable peak before the mid-1760's. The painters who specialised in such 'pittoresque' scenes at the Sèvres factory included Dudin, Vielliard, Catou and Morin
The same scene appears on a Sèvres cuvette à fleur courteille in the Wallace Collection (F329/C490), as well as on one of a pair of flower vases (C208-9) and a single vase (C226) (see R. Savill, op. cit., 1, p. 46 and p. 48)
RVLC and BVRB
This table en chiffonnière belongs to a small group of related porcelain-mounted tables executed by Roger Vandercruse, dit Lacroix (RVLC) (maître in 1755) and Bernard van Risenburgh (BVRB) (maître in 1735). Decorated with marquetry, parquetry or, more unusually, with vernis martin, they tend to have a stretcher with either complementary marquetry or, occasionally, with a further plaque It would appear that Poirier commisioned this group from either ébéniste without preference, each following his own distinctive model
The attribution to RVLC is based on the proximity of this table en chiffonnière with that stamped by RVLC in the Wallace Collection (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F. 326 pp.181-2, pl. 102). With its distinctive flat-arched apron, it shares identical mounts (although the escutcheon of the Wallace example has been removed to the front). The Wallace plaque also bears the date letter for 1760, but was decorated by Ledoux (1758-61) with animals and birds in an exotic landscape. Of this group, a closely related table with identical apron mount, previously in the collection of Alfred de Rothschild, was sold by Almina, Countess of Carnarvon in these Rooms, 19 May 1925, lot 295, and again from the Succession de Mme. Hélène Beaumont, Sotheby's Monaco, 4-6 December 1992, lot 20; another, stamped by RVLC, is in the collection of the Marquis of Bath at Longleat House, Wiltshire (illustrated in P. Verlet, French Furniture and Interior Decoration of the 18th Century, London, 1967, p. 196, fig. 163); another, also stamped RVLC, is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo (illustrated in 'Musée Nissim de Camondo', Catalogue, n.d., no. 194); a further two, originally from the collection of the late Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, were sold by the comtesse d'Aubigny in these Rooms, 1 July 1976, lot 99-100; and, finally, an unstamped example identical to that in the Wallace was in the Goldschmidt-Rothschild Collection at Frankfurt
The group of related tables by BVRB have been studied by D. Alcouffe in 'Louis XV, un moment de perfection d l'Art Français', Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1974, p. 332 and are further discussed by A. Sassoon in his article 'New Research on a Table stamped by Bernard van Risenburgh', The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 9, Malibu, 1981, p. 167-174. The BVRB tables are distinct from those of RVLC by the less accentuated cabriole of the leg and the fact that the drawer is in the front, rather than the sides. Of this group, four are incontrovertibly by BVRB: that in the Musée du Louvre, the plaque dated 1764 (A. Sassoon, op. cit,. fig. 7); that in a French private collection (ibid., fig. 15); and two tables in the Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in J. Parker et al., op. cit., nos. 29 and 30, figs. 128-132). Three further examples are in the Musée du Louvre (A. Sassoon, op. cit., fig. 7), the Getty Museum (ibid., fig. 1) and in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (ibid., fig. 14)
The suggestion in the Kress Collection Catalogue (J. Parker et. al., op. cit., p. 163) that the 'small green vernis martin work table belonging to the Marquis of Cholmondeley was formerly in the collection of Lord Hillingdon' appears to be erroneous, as it is not listed in the privately printed catalogues of either Wildernesse Park, Kent or Camelford House, Park Lane, W.1.