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Lot Essay
The ambition and elegance of this superbly carved panelled room demonstrates how sophistication in architecture and the decorative arts was by no means confined to Paris in 18th Century France.
It was installed as part of an elaborate three-room appartement, including a music room and a library, on the second floor of the Hôtel Gaulin in Dijon, on what is now Rue Pasteur. It was probably commissioned by Pierre-René-Marie Gonthier d'Auvillars (1725-1796), whose family had built the hôtel in 1732. The rooms, which display a remarkable unity and inventiveness, must have caused a sensation in Dijon when they were installed. They remain one of the masterpieces of Jérôme Marlet, the most celebrated sculpteur sur bois of Dijon, whose father Edme Marlet (1695-1791) carved the famous organ case of the Abbey church of Saint-Bénigne de Dijon.
The acquisition of all three rooms by the legendary maecenas and collector J. Pierpont Morgan in 1922, and his donation to the Metropolitan Museum, where they were displayed until being replaced by the superb interiors of the Hôtel Tessé, reflects the enduring fascination of recreating period interiors in American museums and collectors in the 20th Century.
Following the sale in 1997, the salon de musique from the hôtel Gaulin was acquired by the Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon with the assistance of the dealer Carlton Hobbs, and has now been reinstalled at the museum.
It was installed as part of an elaborate three-room appartement, including a music room and a library, on the second floor of the Hôtel Gaulin in Dijon, on what is now Rue Pasteur. It was probably commissioned by Pierre-René-Marie Gonthier d'Auvillars (1725-1796), whose family had built the hôtel in 1732. The rooms, which display a remarkable unity and inventiveness, must have caused a sensation in Dijon when they were installed. They remain one of the masterpieces of Jérôme Marlet, the most celebrated sculpteur sur bois of Dijon, whose father Edme Marlet (1695-1791) carved the famous organ case of the Abbey church of Saint-Bénigne de Dijon.
The acquisition of all three rooms by the legendary maecenas and collector J. Pierpont Morgan in 1922, and his donation to the Metropolitan Museum, where they were displayed until being replaced by the superb interiors of the Hôtel Tessé, reflects the enduring fascination of recreating period interiors in American museums and collectors in the 20th Century.
Following the sale in 1997, the salon de musique from the hôtel Gaulin was acquired by the Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon with the assistance of the dealer Carlton Hobbs, and has now been reinstalled at the museum.