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Lot Essay
Léonard Boudin, maître in 1761.
Charles Topino, maître in 1773.
This marquetry table, combining sinuous lines and whimsical marquetry of Chinese vases and writing accessories, is almost certainly a collaboration between Boudin, marchand-ébéniste, and Charles Topino. The distinctive marquetry of Chinese vases was inspired by Chinese coromandel lacquer, and was probably developed by the latter. Topino worked closely with Boudin and between 1772 and 1774 supplied forty nine small occasional tables to him, almost all decorated with sujets chinois. Several tables are known which bear both makers' stamps, including a bonheur-du-jour in the Nationalsmuseum, Stockholm and a table in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (see S. Barbier Sainte Marie, 'Charles Topino, maître ébéniste et entrepreneur fécond', Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, October 1999, pp. 38-9).
This table à écrire is closely related to a table commissioned by Marie-Antoinette for Versailles. Almost certainly paid for from the Queen's privy purse, it is first recorded by the ébéniste Paquet in 1784, when it was listed as 'une table de placage of the collection of Mlle de Tristan'(circa 1880-1975), was sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 3 December 1994, lot 350. Marie-Antoinette might have purchased this table à écrire after admiring a similarly inlaid bonheur-du-jour described as 'Un petit secrétaire de bois de rose représentant des paniers de fleurs, fruits, theyers et tasses façon de la Chine….', supplied by Gilles Joubert, ébéniste du Roi, for the use of the comte d'Artois at Compiègne in 1774.
This table à écrire is branded with the so-called 'JG' stamp, which is composed of the crowned coat-of-arms of the city of Amsterdam, decree by the Amsterdam city council, dated 29 January 1771, which put a ban on the import of foreign furniture. This influx of furniture from proportions that it posed a threat to the livelihood of local cabinet-makers. The guild of furniture-makers subsequently issued numerous official complaints, which resulted in the 1771 ban. In order not to harm the tradesmen, who had invested in the much sought-after, they were permitted to sell their pieces for another three months, provided that these were branded with the JG-stamp. The decree was mainly aimed against the import from France and most items of furniture which bear the JG-stamp are indeed French late Louis XV or early Louis XVI pieces, which had probably only recently come to Holland.
R. Baarsen 'French Furniture in Amsterdam in 1771', Furniture History, 29 (1993) p. 159 and pp. 166-168.
Charles Topino, maître in 1773.
This marquetry table, combining sinuous lines and whimsical marquetry of Chinese vases and writing accessories, is almost certainly a collaboration between Boudin, marchand-ébéniste, and Charles Topino. The distinctive marquetry of Chinese vases was inspired by Chinese coromandel lacquer, and was probably developed by the latter. Topino worked closely with Boudin and between 1772 and 1774 supplied forty nine small occasional tables to him, almost all decorated with sujets chinois. Several tables are known which bear both makers' stamps, including a bonheur-du-jour in the Nationalsmuseum, Stockholm and a table in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (see S. Barbier Sainte Marie, 'Charles Topino, maître ébéniste et entrepreneur fécond', Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, October 1999, pp. 38-9).
This table à écrire is closely related to a table commissioned by Marie-Antoinette for Versailles. Almost certainly paid for from the Queen's privy purse, it is first recorded by the ébéniste Paquet in 1784, when it was listed as 'une table de placage of the collection of Mlle de Tristan'(circa 1880-1975), was sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 3 December 1994, lot 350. Marie-Antoinette might have purchased this table à écrire after admiring a similarly inlaid bonheur-du-jour described as 'Un petit secrétaire de bois de rose représentant des paniers de fleurs, fruits, theyers et tasses façon de la Chine….', supplied by Gilles Joubert, ébéniste du Roi, for the use of the comte d'Artois at Compiègne in 1774.
This table à écrire is branded with the so-called 'JG' stamp, which is composed of the crowned coat-of-arms of the city of Amsterdam, decree by the Amsterdam city council, dated 29 January 1771, which put a ban on the import of foreign furniture. This influx of furniture from proportions that it posed a threat to the livelihood of local cabinet-makers. The guild of furniture-makers subsequently issued numerous official complaints, which resulted in the 1771 ban. In order not to harm the tradesmen, who had invested in the much sought-after, they were permitted to sell their pieces for another three months, provided that these were branded with the JG-stamp. The decree was mainly aimed against the import from France and most items of furniture which bear the JG-stamp are indeed French late Louis XV or early Louis XVI pieces, which had probably only recently come to Holland.
R. Baarsen 'French Furniture in Amsterdam in 1771', Furniture History, 29 (1993) p. 159 and pp. 166-168.