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Lot Essay
This impressive, uncompromisingly neo-classical commode, veneered with Japanese lacquer panels of the highest quality and mounted with extremely fine bronzes, must be the result of a special commission by a highly fastidious patron, almost certainly given through one of the foremost marchands-merciers, such as Simon-Philippe Poirier or François Darnault.
BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
The commode bears the stamp used by the famous Bernard II van Risenburgh (after 1696-c. 1766) and also by his son, Bernard III, who never became maître-ébéniste but worked on in his father's workshop when this was being run by Bernard III's widow. In 1764 Bernard II, who by then had become extremely feeble, sold his workshop to his son. Very little is known about Bernard III who seems not to have had a long career as ébéniste. There are, however, a number of very fine pieces in the neo-classical style bearing the stamp 'B.V.R.B' that are usually attributed to him. The present commode forms a highly important addition to this small group of late 'BVRB' pieces.
LACQUER COMMODES BY BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
Included among the stock sold by Bernard II van Risenburgh to his son in 1764 were deux batis de commodes à l'Antique sur l'un desquels sont commencés à monter les cadres des portes et coté et les moulures du haut et bas en cuivre (T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, vol. I, New York 1992, p. 302). These are generally thought to have been of a neo-classical model that retains some curved features harking back to the earlier Louis XV style. A number of such pieces bearing Bernard van Risenburgh's stamp, all mounted with Japanese lacquer, are known, including a large commode in the Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (C.C. Dauterman a.o., Decorative art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, London, 1964, No. 10) and a pair of smaller ones in the Frick Collection (Dell, op. cit., pp. 294-313). They are generally attributed to Bernard III, although judging from the description in the stock inventory, their model had already begun to be produced while Bernard van Risenburgh II was still involved with the workshop. Lacquer-mounted commodes in the rococo style had from the 1730s been among the father's most prized works. It is not inconceivable that the model for the Westminster commode, which in its plan retains some curved lines but is basically dominated by straight lines and has an almost aggressive neo-classical appearance, had also been evolved by 1764. If, on the other hand, it was created subsequently, this would in all likelihood not have been done by Bernard III himself. Rather, the intervention of a marchand-mercier would have been more likely.
THE RôLE OF THE MARCHANDS-MERCIERS
Japanese lacquer, especially of the superb quality found on the present commode, was so expensive that virtually no cabinet-maker was able to buy it himself in order to decorate his furniture. Instead, the powerful marchands-merciers, the class of dealers who were also responsible for the production of Sèvres-mounted furniture, acquired the lacquer and commissioned ébénistes to produce furniture that was veneered with it. Bernard II van Risenburgh is known to have made much of his lacquer-mounted furniture for the marchands-merciers Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Simon-Philippe Poirier and François Darnault.
The Westminster commode and the other late series of commodes by B.V.R.B., have a number of features in common with some celebrated lacquer-mounted commodes supplied by Poirier. In 1766, this dealer delivered a sumptuous piece by Joseph Baumhauer (died 1772) to the Marquis de Marigny, Madame de Pompadour's brother and a great advocate of the new style, for 4000 livres (A. Pradère, Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, fig. 240). This still has curved legs, but shares with the present commode the tripartite front, the angular frames around the lacquer panels, and a prominent frieze mount of running-dog design, albeit of a somewhat different figuration. The angular, projecting central panel with its downcurved corners of the present piece, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the lacquer commode by Martin Carlin (c. 1730-1785) delivered in 1773 by Poirier for 4246 livres to Madame du Barry at Versailles (ibid., fig. 428). In keeping with both Carlin's style and the character of Louis XV's mistress, this is much lighter in appearance.
The present commode was undoubtedly made for a passionate amateur of the arts, of the calibre of the Marquis de Marigny. The heavy swags of its frieze recall the earliest goût grec furniture made in the 1750s for Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, and the splendid corner mounts of bearded satyr's heads amidst vine leaves and grapes add, in their obvious derivation from Louis XIV models, to the masculine grandeur of this commode. Apart from supplying the lacquer, the marchand-mercier may have provided the mounts and influenced the design of the commode to comply with his client's wishes. This could have been Poirier, but equally Darnault, who until the late 1780s was responsible for some of the most sumptuous lacquer commodes of the Louis XVI period could have been the driving force.
There is one other commode of this model known, equally stamped by B.V.R.B. but veneered with marquetry (sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, 14 December 1996, lot 73). The marquetry, consisting of neo-classical vases and some floral sprigs in bois de bout, is of a curiously spare and stiff nature, far removed from the masterful, flowing patterns encountered on the furniture of Bernard II van Risenburgh. The central vase inlaid on the commode is closely based on a Sèvres model of which the earliest known example bears the date-letter for 1764 (exh. cat., Sèvres porcelain from the Royal Collection, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1979-1980, No. 61). Similar marquetry occurs on some other pieces of furniture stamped B.V.R.B., such as a jewel-cabinet sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 14 June 1982, Lot 477, which probably came from the collection of Madame de Polès sold in Paris in 1927; this kind of decoration may be characteristic of the work of Bernard III van Risenburgh. The marquetry commode is less richly mounted that the Westminster lacquer example. It notably lacks the superb corner mounts but retains, however, the small balls mounted below the straight angles of the central panel and those next to the feet, which are now missing from the Westminster commode.
THE DUKES OF WESTMINSTER AND GROSVENOR HOUSE
Following very much in the vanguard of George, Prince of Wales and his circle, the Westminsters were avaricious connoisseurs with Francophile leanings, who assembled one of the greatest collections of French furniture in England. Echoing Beckford, the Duke of Hamilton and George Watson Taylor, their collection reveals a particular taste for goüt grec and Boulle furniture, including a pair of floral marquetry armoires, as well as pietra dura mounted furniture by Robert Home, such as the clock-cabinet in the Gilbert Collection which had been bought at the Hamilton Palace sale. (Anna Maria Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, London, 2000, pp. 49-50).
The 2nd Earl Grosvenor purchased the lease of Gloucester House in Upper Grosvenor Street in 1805 for £20,000 and immediately turned to William Pordern to redecorate the house between 1807-1808 - although with an eye on economy, crimson damask from Eaton being reused on the walls. Designed as a Gallery for his newly assembled picture collection, Grosvenor House as it was renamed, was described as 'a mass of damask, velvet, gilding, statues and pictures and magnificence of all sorts, beyond all powers of description and imagination'.
BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
The commode bears the stamp used by the famous Bernard II van Risenburgh (after 1696-c. 1766) and also by his son, Bernard III, who never became maître-ébéniste but worked on in his father's workshop when this was being run by Bernard III's widow. In 1764 Bernard II, who by then had become extremely feeble, sold his workshop to his son. Very little is known about Bernard III who seems not to have had a long career as ébéniste. There are, however, a number of very fine pieces in the neo-classical style bearing the stamp 'B.V.R.B' that are usually attributed to him. The present commode forms a highly important addition to this small group of late 'BVRB' pieces.
LACQUER COMMODES BY BERNARD III VAN RISENBURGH
Included among the stock sold by Bernard II van Risenburgh to his son in 1764 were deux batis de commodes à l'Antique sur l'un desquels sont commencés à monter les cadres des portes et coté et les moulures du haut et bas en cuivre (T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, vol. I, New York 1992, p. 302). These are generally thought to have been of a neo-classical model that retains some curved features harking back to the earlier Louis XV style. A number of such pieces bearing Bernard van Risenburgh's stamp, all mounted with Japanese lacquer, are known, including a large commode in the Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (C.C. Dauterman a.o., Decorative art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, London, 1964, No. 10) and a pair of smaller ones in the Frick Collection (Dell, op. cit., pp. 294-313). They are generally attributed to Bernard III, although judging from the description in the stock inventory, their model had already begun to be produced while Bernard van Risenburgh II was still involved with the workshop. Lacquer-mounted commodes in the rococo style had from the 1730s been among the father's most prized works. It is not inconceivable that the model for the Westminster commode, which in its plan retains some curved lines but is basically dominated by straight lines and has an almost aggressive neo-classical appearance, had also been evolved by 1764. If, on the other hand, it was created subsequently, this would in all likelihood not have been done by Bernard III himself. Rather, the intervention of a marchand-mercier would have been more likely.
THE RôLE OF THE MARCHANDS-MERCIERS
Japanese lacquer, especially of the superb quality found on the present commode, was so expensive that virtually no cabinet-maker was able to buy it himself in order to decorate his furniture. Instead, the powerful marchands-merciers, the class of dealers who were also responsible for the production of Sèvres-mounted furniture, acquired the lacquer and commissioned ébénistes to produce furniture that was veneered with it. Bernard II van Risenburgh is known to have made much of his lacquer-mounted furniture for the marchands-merciers Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Simon-Philippe Poirier and François Darnault.
The Westminster commode and the other late series of commodes by B.V.R.B., have a number of features in common with some celebrated lacquer-mounted commodes supplied by Poirier. In 1766, this dealer delivered a sumptuous piece by Joseph Baumhauer (died 1772) to the Marquis de Marigny, Madame de Pompadour's brother and a great advocate of the new style, for 4000 livres (A. Pradère, Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, fig. 240). This still has curved legs, but shares with the present commode the tripartite front, the angular frames around the lacquer panels, and a prominent frieze mount of running-dog design, albeit of a somewhat different figuration. The angular, projecting central panel with its downcurved corners of the present piece, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the lacquer commode by Martin Carlin (c. 1730-1785) delivered in 1773 by Poirier for 4246 livres to Madame du Barry at Versailles (ibid., fig. 428). In keeping with both Carlin's style and the character of Louis XV's mistress, this is much lighter in appearance.
The present commode was undoubtedly made for a passionate amateur of the arts, of the calibre of the Marquis de Marigny. The heavy swags of its frieze recall the earliest goût grec furniture made in the 1750s for Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, and the splendid corner mounts of bearded satyr's heads amidst vine leaves and grapes add, in their obvious derivation from Louis XIV models, to the masculine grandeur of this commode. Apart from supplying the lacquer, the marchand-mercier may have provided the mounts and influenced the design of the commode to comply with his client's wishes. This could have been Poirier, but equally Darnault, who until the late 1780s was responsible for some of the most sumptuous lacquer commodes of the Louis XVI period could have been the driving force.
There is one other commode of this model known, equally stamped by B.V.R.B. but veneered with marquetry (sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, 14 December 1996, lot 73). The marquetry, consisting of neo-classical vases and some floral sprigs in bois de bout, is of a curiously spare and stiff nature, far removed from the masterful, flowing patterns encountered on the furniture of Bernard II van Risenburgh. The central vase inlaid on the commode is closely based on a Sèvres model of which the earliest known example bears the date-letter for 1764 (exh. cat., Sèvres porcelain from the Royal Collection, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1979-1980, No. 61). Similar marquetry occurs on some other pieces of furniture stamped B.V.R.B., such as a jewel-cabinet sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 14 June 1982, Lot 477, which probably came from the collection of Madame de Polès sold in Paris in 1927; this kind of decoration may be characteristic of the work of Bernard III van Risenburgh. The marquetry commode is less richly mounted that the Westminster lacquer example. It notably lacks the superb corner mounts but retains, however, the small balls mounted below the straight angles of the central panel and those next to the feet, which are now missing from the Westminster commode.
THE DUKES OF WESTMINSTER AND GROSVENOR HOUSE
Following very much in the vanguard of George, Prince of Wales and his circle, the Westminsters were avaricious connoisseurs with Francophile leanings, who assembled one of the greatest collections of French furniture in England. Echoing Beckford, the Duke of Hamilton and George Watson Taylor, their collection reveals a particular taste for goüt grec and Boulle furniture, including a pair of floral marquetry armoires, as well as pietra dura mounted furniture by Robert Home, such as the clock-cabinet in the Gilbert Collection which had been bought at the Hamilton Palace sale. (Anna Maria Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, London, 2000, pp. 49-50).
The 2nd Earl Grosvenor purchased the lease of Gloucester House in Upper Grosvenor Street in 1805 for £20,000 and immediately turned to William Pordern to redecorate the house between 1807-1808 - although with an eye on economy, crimson damask from Eaton being reused on the walls. Designed as a Gallery for his newly assembled picture collection, Grosvenor House as it was renamed, was described as 'a mass of damask, velvet, gilding, statues and pictures and magnificence of all sorts, beyond all powers of description and imagination'.