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Lot Essay
Adam Weisweiler, maître in 1778.
Embellished with costly burr-yew wood veneers and finely-chased ormolu mounts, this superb commode reflects the richly elegant restraint typical of the ébéniste Adam Weisweiler at the height of his powers. In contrast to the richly mounted works commonly associated with French furniture, this commode is in the style of the goût anglais popular in the 1770s and 80s. This style was promoted by Madame de Pompadour's brother, the Marquis de Marigny, who greatly admired the simple forms and plain beauty of English furniture.
The form of this commode became almost a signature for Weisweiler, the apotheosis of which was the richly mounted version delivered by Daguerre in 1789 to the Garde Robe of Louis XVI at Versailles. Sold by the Earl of Rosebery at Sotheby’s London, 30 June 1978, lot 119, it has now returned to Versailles. In addition to more richly mounted versions like the Royal commode, Weisweiler would also substitute lacquer panels for the case which were often richly mounted in ormolu.
The present commode may possibly be one of a pair and is part of a known group executed by Weisweiler which uses either a combination of thuyawood or burr-yew wood and mahogany, or just mahogany. They include:
--A single commode, with a possibly identical top which may be either the present commode or its pair illustrated in S. De Ricci, Le Style Louis XVI, Paris, p.165
--A single commode, with a white marble top from the Collection of Sigismond Bardac and acquired from Seligmann and Sons, Paris, in 1925 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA 25.161)
-- A single commode with a white marble top, from the collection of Maréchal Berthier and stamped CHPB and in the Portnoi Collection, Paris. (P. Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 174, no.11)
--A pair of commodes in a Private collection (Ibid, illus. p.27)
--A pair of commodes with white marble tops sold at Palais Galliera, 9-10 June, 1976, lot 217 (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français Du XVIII Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 872) which may be the commodes listed above.
WEISWEILER AND DAGUERRE
Adam Weisweiler, an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maîtrise in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. While he is recorded to have worked with the marchand-mercier Julliot and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, the luxury pieces for which he is best known were almost exclusively sold directly through Dominique Daguerre. He provided the designs for many of Weisweiler’s most important commissions and together they supplied the most influential and esteemed patrons of their day: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV), and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duke Paul of Russia.
The heir to Simon-Philippe Poirier's atelier, Daguerre was the foremost Parisian marchand-mercier of the last decades of the Ancien Régime. From the 1770s onward, he was the prevailing tastemaker in Paris and subsequently London. He specialized in supplying objets de luxe to the French court and, increasingly during the 1780s, to the English nobility. Based first in the rue St. Honoré, Daguerre also opened a shop in London in the 1780s to meet the demands of George, Prince of Wales and his circle which included the Duke of Bedford and Earl Spencer. It was Weisweiler’s link to a thriving export trade through Daguerre that enabled him to continue working during the subsequent Revolution, and he adeptly avoided the bankruptcy which befell so many of his colleagues.
Embellished with costly burr-yew wood veneers and finely-chased ormolu mounts, this superb commode reflects the richly elegant restraint typical of the ébéniste Adam Weisweiler at the height of his powers. In contrast to the richly mounted works commonly associated with French furniture, this commode is in the style of the goût anglais popular in the 1770s and 80s. This style was promoted by Madame de Pompadour's brother, the Marquis de Marigny, who greatly admired the simple forms and plain beauty of English furniture.
The form of this commode became almost a signature for Weisweiler, the apotheosis of which was the richly mounted version delivered by Daguerre in 1789 to the Garde Robe of Louis XVI at Versailles. Sold by the Earl of Rosebery at Sotheby’s London, 30 June 1978, lot 119, it has now returned to Versailles. In addition to more richly mounted versions like the Royal commode, Weisweiler would also substitute lacquer panels for the case which were often richly mounted in ormolu.
The present commode may possibly be one of a pair and is part of a known group executed by Weisweiler which uses either a combination of thuyawood or burr-yew wood and mahogany, or just mahogany. They include:
--A single commode, with a possibly identical top which may be either the present commode or its pair illustrated in S. De Ricci, Le Style Louis XVI, Paris, p.165
--A single commode, with a white marble top from the Collection of Sigismond Bardac and acquired from Seligmann and Sons, Paris, in 1925 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA 25.161)
-- A single commode with a white marble top, from the collection of Maréchal Berthier and stamped CHPB and in the Portnoi Collection, Paris. (P. Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 174, no.11)
--A pair of commodes in a Private collection (Ibid, illus. p.27)
--A pair of commodes with white marble tops sold at Palais Galliera, 9-10 June, 1976, lot 217 (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français Du XVIII Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 872) which may be the commodes listed above.
WEISWEILER AND DAGUERRE
Adam Weisweiler, an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maîtrise in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. While he is recorded to have worked with the marchand-mercier Julliot and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, the luxury pieces for which he is best known were almost exclusively sold directly through Dominique Daguerre. He provided the designs for many of Weisweiler’s most important commissions and together they supplied the most influential and esteemed patrons of their day: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV), and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duke Paul of Russia.
The heir to Simon-Philippe Poirier's atelier, Daguerre was the foremost Parisian marchand-mercier of the last decades of the Ancien Régime. From the 1770s onward, he was the prevailing tastemaker in Paris and subsequently London. He specialized in supplying objets de luxe to the French court and, increasingly during the 1780s, to the English nobility. Based first in the rue St. Honoré, Daguerre also opened a shop in London in the 1780s to meet the demands of George, Prince of Wales and his circle which included the Duke of Bedford and Earl Spencer. It was Weisweiler’s link to a thriving export trade through Daguerre that enabled him to continue working during the subsequent Revolution, and he adeptly avoided the bankruptcy which befell so many of his colleagues.