ATTRIBUTED TO SIMON OEBEN, CIRCA 1760-65

A superb example of 18^th century modernity, this distinctive 'commode à la grecque' is part of a corpus by les frères Oeben supplied almost exclusively to the 18^th century’s most celebrated and discerning patroness Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) and her fiercest political ally the duc de Choiseul (1719-1785). Commissioned by Choiseul for his famed château de Chanteloup, this commode was acquired at his death by the garde-meuble de la couronne and used to furnish the bedroom firstly of Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (1782-1789) and later of Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans (1753-1821) at the château de Fontainebleau.

The duc de Choiseul acquired the château de Chanteloup in 1761 and, influenced by his neighbour and ally Madame de Pompadour, turned to her cabinetmakers of choice, Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763) and his brother Simon Oeben (1722-1786) to provide furniture for the château. Like in Pompadour’s chateau de Menars, the Oebens’ work at Chanteloup would be characterised by the ‘commode à la grecque’, of which the present lot is such an excellent example. After Jean-François Oeben's death in 1763, Simon Oeben (maître in 1769) was tasked with carrying out the commission, a fact which is testified to by the numerous pieces stamped by both ébénistes and the Chanteloup inventory mark. A closely related mahogany commode with similar stencilled inventory marks similarly located under the marble and on the substrate of the commode (‘DU N°15.I.C’) also bears a later inventory stamp of the château de Chanteloup added by the duc de Penthièvre, who bought Chanteloup and its contents at Choiseul’s death in 1785.

Almost identical satiné commodes, stamped Simon Oeben, are illustrated in F. J. B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1973, cat. 34 and (of smaller size) with Antiquités Rigot et Fils, Paris. Another commode, attributed to Oeben and painted with an inventory mark 'No. 10', was sold anonymously in Paris, Ader Picard Tajan, 24 June 1985, lot 166. Closely related satiné commodes stamped Jean-Francois Oeben include those sold Christie’s, London, 6 July 2006, lot 2070, and Ader Picard Tajan, 25 March 1977, lot 169.

It appears that the commodes were almost exclusively placed in bedrooms, both by Choiseul, the garde-meuble and the originator of the model Madame de Pompadour. In the chambre à coucher of the Marquise de Pompadour at her château de Ménars, the notaire records 'Une commode à la grecque de bois d'acajou avec son dessus de marbre 180 livres'; in the later inventory of the same château taken following the death of the marquise's brother and heir, the marquis de Marigny, amongst several further commodes of this form is listed 'Une commode à deux grands tiroirs avec batants de coté de bois d'acajou tigré orné d'anneaux de cuivre doré avec son dessus de marbre d'Italie veiné'.

THE PROVENANCE

The inscribed inventory number ‘DU No 24/ .I/ .C’ on the substrate and marble top of the commode relates to inventory numbers on other pieces from Chanteloup and is evidence of a fairly thorough inventory system under Choiseul that was otherwise seen only at royal palaces. Discussed by Marie Thomas in Chanteloup: Un moment de grâce autour du duc de Choiseul pp. 248-250, the numbering system corresponded to rooms in the chateau. Thomas suggests that the inscription ‘chambre’ and ‘de la chapelle’ on the commode and marble refers to its placement in a bedroom near to the chapel at Chanteloup.

This commode is one of a number acquired from Chanteloup by the garde-meuble in 1785 before the chateau was acquired by the duc de Penthièvre, as evidenced by the lack of Penthièvre’s inventory mark and the Fontainebleau inventory numbers on the back and under the marble. The inventory number preceded by a crowned F on the back of this commode relates to a 1786 inventory of the château de Fontainebleau which records the commode in the bedroom of the Dauphin ‘Une commode à deux grands tiroirs et trois petits dans la frise plaquée de bois satiné uni, anneaux et sabots de bronze doré, dessus de marbre de Flandres de 4 pieds 1/2’.’ Louis Joseph, second child of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette had rooms with his siblings on the ground floor of the château under the Queen’s apartment, giving onto the cour ovale and a considerable distance from the Duke and Duchess of Orléans' apartment in the Aile Louis XV by the cour d’honneur where the commode was moved in 1787. In the inventory of that year the commode was recorded in the bedroom of the Duchess of Orléans, who was the duc de Penthièvre’s daughter, as ‘No 976 une commode de bois palissandre à deux grands et trois petits tiroirs, anneaux et sabots de bronze doré, le dessus de marbre de Flandre de 4 pieds ½ de large’. The inventory number under the marble ‘No 974’ corresponds to another commode, probably of the same design and recorded in the same apartment in the salon of the Duke and Duchess of Orléans. The apartment of the duke and duchess was located on the ground floor of the aile Louis XV, a wing framing one side of the cour d’honneur and facing on the other side the Jardin anglais. As both marble and commode have the same Chanteloup inventory numbers, it would appear that the marble was swapped with commode ‘No 974’ while in the Orléans’ apartment and then reunited at a later date.

A number of important improvements and construction projects were executed at the château in 1786 including the installation of the Queen’s boudoir d’argent and the extension of the Galerie Francois Ier to accommodate a new apartment for Louis XVI. The redistribution of apartments and furniture was common in royal palaces and it is probable that the commode was moved as part of these alterations. Despite the newly completed apartments, October-November 1786 would be the last time that the royal family visited Fontainebleau.

An alternative theory to the inscription on the marble and commode ‘chambre’ and ‘de la Chapelle’, clearly inscribed at a later date than the Chanteloup inventory number, refers to Charles-Gilbert de la Chapelle (1755-1794), Secrétaire des Commandements du Dauphin from 1784 and premier commis de la maison du roy from 1785. Given his position in the royal household, he likely had rooms at the château and access to the furniture of the garde-meuble. It is possible that rather than a room in Chanteloup the inscription dates to Fontainebleau.