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Lot Essay
Étienne Levasseur, maître in 1766.
This sumptuous commode, with its sober panels of richly figured mahogany, was created by Étienne Levasseur who trained with the sons of André -Charles Boulle, probably with A-C Boulle the younger (1685-1745) or Charles-Joseph Boulle (d. 1754). By 1765, he was established as a privileged craftsman in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, at a shop known as au Cadran bleu, and obtained his maîtrise soon after. Among his patrons were the King's aunts, Mesdames Adelaïde and Victoire, and various amateurs such as the fermier général, Mulot de Pressigny. In 1782, he was made deputé of his guild. Levasseur specialised in copying and repairing Boulle furniture and his stamp appears on many Louis XIV pieces, including many in English country house collections. Later in his career he also produced more sober pieces with large expanses of well-chosen mahogany and of impressive architectural form (see Kjellberg op.cit, pp. 258-9).
MADAME JACQUES BALSAN
The daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont, Consuelo became a celebrated debutante at her parents' Newport residence, Marble House, where in August of 1895 she met Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. She married the Duke that autumn and returned to England to live at Blenheim Palace. The marriage was a notoriously unhappy one. She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920. The following summer she married
the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan. Settling in
France, they divided their time between the splendid 17th century
Château de Saint-Georges-Motel, near Eure, Normandy and the hôtel
Marlborough, Paris, both of which they filled with exceptional French
furniture and works of art from the ancien regime. Fleeing to
America and Palm Beach in 1940, much of Colonel and Madame Balsan's
collection was recorded for posterity by L.-H. Prost, Collection de
Madame et du Colonel Balsan, Paris, privately printed, circa 1930.
This sumptuous commode, with its sober panels of richly figured mahogany, was created by Étienne Levasseur who trained with the sons of André -Charles Boulle, probably with A-C Boulle the younger (1685-1745) or Charles-Joseph Boulle (d. 1754). By 1765, he was established as a privileged craftsman in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, at a shop known as au Cadran bleu, and obtained his maîtrise soon after. Among his patrons were the King's aunts, Mesdames Adelaïde and Victoire, and various amateurs such as the fermier général, Mulot de Pressigny. In 1782, he was made deputé of his guild. Levasseur specialised in copying and repairing Boulle furniture and his stamp appears on many Louis XIV pieces, including many in English country house collections. Later in his career he also produced more sober pieces with large expanses of well-chosen mahogany and of impressive architectural form (see Kjellberg op.cit, pp. 258-9).
MADAME JACQUES BALSAN
The daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont, Consuelo became a celebrated debutante at her parents' Newport residence, Marble House, where in August of 1895 she met Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. She married the Duke that autumn and returned to England to live at Blenheim Palace. The marriage was a notoriously unhappy one. She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920. The following summer she married
the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan. Settling in
France, they divided their time between the splendid 17th century
Château de Saint-Georges-Motel, near Eure, Normandy and the hôtel
Marlborough, Paris, both of which they filled with exceptional French
furniture and works of art from the ancien regime. Fleeing to
America and Palm Beach in 1940, much of Colonel and Madame Balsan's
collection was recorded for posterity by L.-H. Prost, Collection de
Madame et du Colonel Balsan, Paris, privately printed, circa 1930.