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Lot Essay
Conceived in costly polished steel and gilt-bronze and with an audacious goût à la grecque design, these superb console tables are an exciting discovery, adding to a small group of related examples produced circa 1765, including the celebrated console supplied to King Augustus III of Poland. Although recent analysis has revealed that in strict metallurgical terms these are more likely to be of polished wrought-iron than polished steel, the terms 'acier poli' and 'fer poli' were almost interchangeable in the eighteenth century and this group has traditionally been described as polished steel, which is how the material will be referred to in this entry. Polished steel was an extremely hard and complex material to work, and furniture made of this material was subsequently very expensive. These costly pieces were conceived by serruriers (locksmiths) working outside their usual skill and scale, and were considered a profound innovation. David Harris Cohen, who studied a similar model now at the J.P. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, was the first to identify a group of consoles of this type, which he attributed to the work of the serrurier Pierre II Deumier, based on Deumier's advertisement published in the gazette of L’Avant-coureur, 8 August 1763:
‘Un pied pour porter une table de marbre à double consolles avec volutes en cornes de bélier, enrichie d’avant corps & moulures prises, sur les masses, surmontées d’une frise avec rond entrelassé & rosettes. Le bas est terminé par un vase antique de ronde bosse avec branches de chêne. Les consolles sont garnies de différentes pièces d’ornements, & dans le milieu est une tête de femme coëffée à l’antique ; des branches de laurier forment guirlande au pourtour’.
In his study, Cohen identified two groups of steel examples, the first dating from the eighteenth century and the second made in silvered bronze, dating from the nineteenth century. The consoles offered here, unique in design within the group, are an exciting addition to a very small corpus of eighteenth-century examples in polished steel, all following the same general striking avant-garde Neoclassical design, attributed to the architect Victor Louis (1731-1800):
- a single console at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. no. Epr-2736), which is 140 cm. wide. Its design corresponds to two drawings, one by Victor Louis, the other attributed to the ornemaniste and sculptor Jean-Louis Prieur (1759-1795), made in 1766 for the Chambre des Portraits of the Royal palace of Warsaw. The only difference between the Hermitage example and the 1766 designs is the absence of the cypher of its patron, King Stanislaw II Augustus (1732-1798)
- a single console at Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island. It was donated, together with a later console of this model, to the Newport Preservation Society after its purchase in 1957 by Harold S. Vanderbilt from the New York dealers French & Company. The eighteenth-century example has a leaf-and-berry mount at the center of its frieze, similar to the Hermitage table
- a pair of consoles sold from the Rothschild Collection, by family tradition acquired by Baron Gustave de Rothschild (1829-1911) from Galerie Seligmann at the end of the nineteenth century (sold Christie's, London, 4 July 2019, lot 30, £2,831,350), their friezes centered by later female masks
We also know seven other examples which are in silvered bronze, which are now thought to date from the second half of the nineteenth century:
- a single console in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (acc. no. 88.DF.118), 129.5 cm wide; formerly in the Lopez-Willshaw collection, sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 23 June 1976, lot 108; subsequently acquired from the British Rail Pension Fund.
- a pair of consoles at the château de Versailles, bequeathed by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (137 cm. wide); according to Cohen, this pair is not eighteenth-century but of later manufacture and in silvered bronze (one has been subsequently gilded)
- a pair of consoles at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (inv. no. CAM.190.1-2, 127 cm. wide). This pair, centered by cartouches, was formerly in the collection of marquis Edmond de Lambertye, and was purchased by Camondo in 1917 from the dealer Jacques Seligmann
- the second console now on display at Marble House, its frieze centered by three fleurs-de-lys. Theodore Dell has stated that this console is silvered bronze, and not eighteenth-century
- a further single console in a private American collection, possibly that fabricated by Wertheimer of Bond Street and recorded in the 1862 International Exhibition
THE KING OF POLAND’S CONSOLE
King Augustus II of Poland died on 5 October 1763. As the Polish throne was not hereditary, the election of a new king had the potential to change the balance of power in Europe. After eleven months of intrigue throughout the courts of Europe, Stanislas Auguste II Poniatowski was elected. As a demonstration of his new power and status, the new King decided to extensively redesign the palace in Warsaw in the latest ‘goût grec’ fashion. For this project, he sought the advice from Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777), his influential friend and patron, whose salon on the rue Saint-Honoré played an important role in setting the avant-garde literary and artistic tone in Paris. His relationship with Madame Geoffrin began during his 1741 trip in Paris, and continued in an important and lengthy correspondence that would continue to influence his decisions on artistic matters, even after he became King. Through her, he became acquainted with her protégé, the designer and architect Victor Louis, and Madame Geoffrin granted herself the responsibility of the overall design of the remodeling of the Royal Palace in 1763.
A watercolor by Victor Louis of the window wall of the Palace’s ‘chambre des portraits’, dated 1766, shows a console of this model placed under two windows. Another drawing, more detailed and attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur, is in the Warsaw University, and shows the console in elevation and plan. A third drawing, more schematic, shows it in elevation only. For the execution of the console, it is known that a life-size model was made in Paris by a craftsman called ‘Jadot’. The table itself was completed and delivered to Warsaw by February 1769, by which date the bleu turquin marble top and oval stand shown in the two drawings had been supplied by Jacques Adam. The console was apparently never used in any of the interiors, though it remained part of the Royal collections until at least 1795, when it was described in storage in the ‘Inventaire des Effets mobiliers dans le Garde-Meuble au château de Varsovie qui sont à vendre.’ It also appears in the 1789 inventory after the death of Stanislas. It has been assumed that the console was brought to Russia sometime in the nineteenth century during the occupation of Poland, and would be the example now at the State Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg.
Madame Geoffrin appears to have been a key figure for this commission, not only introducing Victor Louis to the King but also Deumier, as she herself employed his services before 1766 for the refurnishing of her hôtel on the rue Saint-Honoré. In her carnets, entitled ‘Différentes choses dont je veux garder le souvenir et de différentes choses dont je veux me souvenir des prix’ is recorded: ‘Les deux consoles d’acier et de bronze doré de ma chambre à coucher … 1,500 L' together with ‘les marbres de Portor, 96L’. Further down she records ‘les deux encoignures de ma chambre à coucher, le marbre de Portor, 96L ‘. This pair of encoignures, undoubtedly by Deumier, are also recorded in the 1833 posthumous inventory death of the marquis d’Estampes (her daughter’s heir) and are mentioned as follows: ‘N°178. Deux encoignures en fer ciselé à garnitures de bronze doré et dessus de marbre portor, 50F’ (Arch. nat. MCN. CX/853).
THE BERINGHEN SUITE OF 'ACIER POLI' CONSOLES
A large set of ormolu-mounted steel furniture is recorded in the eighteenth century in the collection of the marquis de Beringhen, premier écuyer du roi, dit ‘Monsieur le Premier’ (1693-1770). His posthumous collection sale after death lists no fewer than six consoles and two encoignures, although none would equate with the distinctive small scale and wall-mounted form (possibly designed to be incorporated into a specific architectural scheme) of the consoles offered here:
N°176. Deux tables de beau marbre brèche d’Alep, de forme contournées, portant chacune dans sa plus grande partie 4 pieds sur 19 pouces 6 lignes de profondeur, posées sur des pieds à deux consoles de 21 pouces [130 x 52,5 x 56,7 cm.], en acier bruni, ornées de feuilles, fleurons guirlandes, coquilles & moulures de bronze doré, le tout exécuté avec beaucoup d’art & de perfection. [135 x 48,5 cm.]
N°177. Une table aussi de marbre brèche d’Alep, sur un pied pareil au précédent. [135 x 48,5cm.]
N°178. Une table de très beau marbre vert campan, de forme contournée, sur son pied, qui ne diffère des précédents que par sa richesse [no measurements]
N°179. Une autre table de même marbre de 4 pieds 9 pouces, sur 22 pouces 6 lignes [154 x 61 cm.], sur un pied d’acier poli, garni de bronze doré beaucoup plus travaillé que celui de l’article précédent.
N°180. Une table de marbre de belle brocatelle de 3 pieds 3 pouces [105 cm.], aussi sur son pied d’acier poli, orné de bronze doré.
N°181. Deux petites encoignures de même marbre, sur des pieds d’acier.
PIERRE II DEUMIER
Little is known about the locksmith Pierre II Deumier, aside from what can be ascertained from his advertisement in the 1767 journal, which states that he was serrurier du roi (Locksmith to the King). The study of papers in the Archives Nationales in Paris has revealed he also worked as serrurier des Bâtiments du roi et de la Ville de Paris and for the most influential patrons of his time, such as the prince de Condé. His workshop was recorded rue Neuve des Mathurins in the Chaussée d’Antin whereas his father, dit Pierre I Deumier and also maître serrurier, was recorded on the rue des Marmousets. His most important commission seemed to have been the one for Warsaw, where Deumier supplied not only the large console, but also some doors, metal hardware for the picture frames of the Chambre des Portraits and mirror frames in bronze, probably intended for the boudoir of the palace. Another notable commission was the group of grilles he made for the choir of the Royal church Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris for which he proudly requested the marquis de Marigny, directeur général des bâtiments du Roi to visit this work in a letter dated 30 October 1767.
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THE GILT BRONZES
Although there is no record of which bronzier supplied gilt-bronzes to Deumier for his consoles, the superb quality of the ormolu on these consoles, particularly the remarkably lifelike and organic laurel-leaf garlands, beautifully chased and delicately veined, relate to the work of the celebrated bronzier, doreur and ciseleur Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813). One of Gouthière's most celebrated clients was the duc d'Aumont, who oversaw the Menus Plaisirs and was a passionate collector of hardstones and bronzes d'ameublement. The famous sale of the duc d'Aumont's collection in 1782 indicated which works were made by Gouthière, including an extraordinary pair of alabaster vases with ormolu handles in the form of laurel vines (lot 7) with a similar virtuosic naturalistic quality. These vases were acquired by Louis XVI at the sale for the Musée du Louvre, were later acquired by the comte de Flahaut and more recently sold from the collection of French and Company, Christie's, New York, 24 November 1998, lot 15 ($2,092,500, see also C. Vignon and C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court, New York, 2016, p. 186-187, cat. no. 10).
‘Un pied pour porter une table de marbre à double consolles avec volutes en cornes de bélier, enrichie d’avant corps & moulures prises, sur les masses, surmontées d’une frise avec rond entrelassé & rosettes. Le bas est terminé par un vase antique de ronde bosse avec branches de chêne. Les consolles sont garnies de différentes pièces d’ornements, & dans le milieu est une tête de femme coëffée à l’antique ; des branches de laurier forment guirlande au pourtour’.
In his study, Cohen identified two groups of steel examples, the first dating from the eighteenth century and the second made in silvered bronze, dating from the nineteenth century. The consoles offered here, unique in design within the group, are an exciting addition to a very small corpus of eighteenth-century examples in polished steel, all following the same general striking avant-garde Neoclassical design, attributed to the architect Victor Louis (1731-1800):
- a single console at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. no. Epr-2736), which is 140 cm. wide. Its design corresponds to two drawings, one by Victor Louis, the other attributed to the ornemaniste and sculptor Jean-Louis Prieur (1759-1795), made in 1766 for the Chambre des Portraits of the Royal palace of Warsaw. The only difference between the Hermitage example and the 1766 designs is the absence of the cypher of its patron, King Stanislaw II Augustus (1732-1798)
- a single console at Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island. It was donated, together with a later console of this model, to the Newport Preservation Society after its purchase in 1957 by Harold S. Vanderbilt from the New York dealers French & Company. The eighteenth-century example has a leaf-and-berry mount at the center of its frieze, similar to the Hermitage table
- a pair of consoles sold from the Rothschild Collection, by family tradition acquired by Baron Gustave de Rothschild (1829-1911) from Galerie Seligmann at the end of the nineteenth century (sold Christie's, London, 4 July 2019, lot 30, £2,831,350), their friezes centered by later female masks
We also know seven other examples which are in silvered bronze, which are now thought to date from the second half of the nineteenth century:
- a single console in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (acc. no. 88.DF.118), 129.5 cm wide; formerly in the Lopez-Willshaw collection, sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 23 June 1976, lot 108; subsequently acquired from the British Rail Pension Fund.
- a pair of consoles at the château de Versailles, bequeathed by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (137 cm. wide); according to Cohen, this pair is not eighteenth-century but of later manufacture and in silvered bronze (one has been subsequently gilded)
- a pair of consoles at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (inv. no. CAM.190.1-2, 127 cm. wide). This pair, centered by cartouches, was formerly in the collection of marquis Edmond de Lambertye, and was purchased by Camondo in 1917 from the dealer Jacques Seligmann
- the second console now on display at Marble House, its frieze centered by three fleurs-de-lys. Theodore Dell has stated that this console is silvered bronze, and not eighteenth-century
- a further single console in a private American collection, possibly that fabricated by Wertheimer of Bond Street and recorded in the 1862 International Exhibition
THE KING OF POLAND’S CONSOLE
King Augustus II of Poland died on 5 October 1763. As the Polish throne was not hereditary, the election of a new king had the potential to change the balance of power in Europe. After eleven months of intrigue throughout the courts of Europe, Stanislas Auguste II Poniatowski was elected. As a demonstration of his new power and status, the new King decided to extensively redesign the palace in Warsaw in the latest ‘goût grec’ fashion. For this project, he sought the advice from Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777), his influential friend and patron, whose salon on the rue Saint-Honoré played an important role in setting the avant-garde literary and artistic tone in Paris. His relationship with Madame Geoffrin began during his 1741 trip in Paris, and continued in an important and lengthy correspondence that would continue to influence his decisions on artistic matters, even after he became King. Through her, he became acquainted with her protégé, the designer and architect Victor Louis, and Madame Geoffrin granted herself the responsibility of the overall design of the remodeling of the Royal Palace in 1763.
A watercolor by Victor Louis of the window wall of the Palace’s ‘chambre des portraits’, dated 1766, shows a console of this model placed under two windows. Another drawing, more detailed and attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur, is in the Warsaw University, and shows the console in elevation and plan. A third drawing, more schematic, shows it in elevation only. For the execution of the console, it is known that a life-size model was made in Paris by a craftsman called ‘Jadot’. The table itself was completed and delivered to Warsaw by February 1769, by which date the bleu turquin marble top and oval stand shown in the two drawings had been supplied by Jacques Adam. The console was apparently never used in any of the interiors, though it remained part of the Royal collections until at least 1795, when it was described in storage in the ‘Inventaire des Effets mobiliers dans le Garde-Meuble au château de Varsovie qui sont à vendre.’ It also appears in the 1789 inventory after the death of Stanislas. It has been assumed that the console was brought to Russia sometime in the nineteenth century during the occupation of Poland, and would be the example now at the State Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg.
Madame Geoffrin appears to have been a key figure for this commission, not only introducing Victor Louis to the King but also Deumier, as she herself employed his services before 1766 for the refurnishing of her hôtel on the rue Saint-Honoré. In her carnets, entitled ‘Différentes choses dont je veux garder le souvenir et de différentes choses dont je veux me souvenir des prix’ is recorded: ‘Les deux consoles d’acier et de bronze doré de ma chambre à coucher … 1,500 L' together with ‘les marbres de Portor, 96L’. Further down she records ‘les deux encoignures de ma chambre à coucher, le marbre de Portor, 96L ‘. This pair of encoignures, undoubtedly by Deumier, are also recorded in the 1833 posthumous inventory death of the marquis d’Estampes (her daughter’s heir) and are mentioned as follows: ‘N°178. Deux encoignures en fer ciselé à garnitures de bronze doré et dessus de marbre portor, 50F’ (Arch. nat. MCN. CX/853).
THE BERINGHEN SUITE OF 'ACIER POLI' CONSOLES
A large set of ormolu-mounted steel furniture is recorded in the eighteenth century in the collection of the marquis de Beringhen, premier écuyer du roi, dit ‘Monsieur le Premier’ (1693-1770). His posthumous collection sale after death lists no fewer than six consoles and two encoignures, although none would equate with the distinctive small scale and wall-mounted form (possibly designed to be incorporated into a specific architectural scheme) of the consoles offered here:
N°176. Deux tables de beau marbre brèche d’Alep, de forme contournées, portant chacune dans sa plus grande partie 4 pieds sur 19 pouces 6 lignes de profondeur, posées sur des pieds à deux consoles de 21 pouces [130 x 52,5 x 56,7 cm.], en acier bruni, ornées de feuilles, fleurons guirlandes, coquilles & moulures de bronze doré, le tout exécuté avec beaucoup d’art & de perfection. [135 x 48,5 cm.]
N°177. Une table aussi de marbre brèche d’Alep, sur un pied pareil au précédent. [135 x 48,5cm.]
N°178. Une table de très beau marbre vert campan, de forme contournée, sur son pied, qui ne diffère des précédents que par sa richesse [no measurements]
N°179. Une autre table de même marbre de 4 pieds 9 pouces, sur 22 pouces 6 lignes [154 x 61 cm.], sur un pied d’acier poli, garni de bronze doré beaucoup plus travaillé que celui de l’article précédent.
N°180. Une table de marbre de belle brocatelle de 3 pieds 3 pouces [105 cm.], aussi sur son pied d’acier poli, orné de bronze doré.
N°181. Deux petites encoignures de même marbre, sur des pieds d’acier.
PIERRE II DEUMIER
Little is known about the locksmith Pierre II Deumier, aside from what can be ascertained from his advertisement in the 1767 journal, which states that he was serrurier du roi (Locksmith to the King). The study of papers in the Archives Nationales in Paris has revealed he also worked as serrurier des Bâtiments du roi et de la Ville de Paris and for the most influential patrons of his time, such as the prince de Condé. His workshop was recorded rue Neuve des Mathurins in the Chaussée d’Antin whereas his father, dit Pierre I Deumier and also maître serrurier, was recorded on the rue des Marmousets. His most important commission seemed to have been the one for Warsaw, where Deumier supplied not only the large console, but also some doors, metal hardware for the picture frames of the Chambre des Portraits and mirror frames in bronze, probably intended for the boudoir of the palace. Another notable commission was the group of grilles he made for the choir of the Royal church Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris for which he proudly requested the marquis de Marigny, directeur général des bâtiments du Roi to visit this work in a letter dated 30 October 1767.
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THE GILT BRONZES
Although there is no record of which bronzier supplied gilt-bronzes to Deumier for his consoles, the superb quality of the ormolu on these consoles, particularly the remarkably lifelike and organic laurel-leaf garlands, beautifully chased and delicately veined, relate to the work of the celebrated bronzier, doreur and ciseleur Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813). One of Gouthière's most celebrated clients was the duc d'Aumont, who oversaw the Menus Plaisirs and was a passionate collector of hardstones and bronzes d'ameublement. The famous sale of the duc d'Aumont's collection in 1782 indicated which works were made by Gouthière, including an extraordinary pair of alabaster vases with ormolu handles in the form of laurel vines (lot 7) with a similar virtuosic naturalistic quality. These vases were acquired by Louis XVI at the sale for the Musée du Louvre, were later acquired by the comte de Flahaut and more recently sold from the collection of French and Company, Christie's, New York, 24 November 1998, lot 15 ($2,092,500, see also C. Vignon and C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court, New York, 2016, p. 186-187, cat. no. 10).