Lot Essay
Denis Genty, marchand-ébéniste, maître in 1754.
With its stylised floral spray marquetry, refined lines, sense of movement and distinctive ogee-shaped chamfered side aprons, this table à écrire reflects the influence of Jean-Pierre Latz (fl. 1691-1746). An artisan privilégié du roi, Latz established workshops in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine and worked extensively for marchand-ébénistes such as Genty and Delorme. Apart from his extremely realistic floral marquetry, Latz's oeuvre is most readily identifiable by the distinctive gilt-bronze mounts he cast, in direct contravention of guild regulations (H. Hawley, 'Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinet Maker', Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, September/October 1970, p.207).
Genty and Latz are known to have collaborated as their stamps often appear side by side, as can be seen on the celebrated table méchanique at Waddesdon Manor, discussed in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, no.82, pp.394-397. This latter table is thought to have been executed by either Latz (d.1754) or his widow, Marie-Madeleine Seignat, who carried on using her husband's stamp from 1754-56, and retailed by Genty, who may have provided the mounts.
A related coiffeuse by Jacques-Philippe Carel was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 25 June 1982, lot 102.
With its stylised floral spray marquetry, refined lines, sense of movement and distinctive ogee-shaped chamfered side aprons, this table à écrire reflects the influence of Jean-Pierre Latz (fl. 1691-1746). An artisan privilégié du roi, Latz established workshops in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine and worked extensively for marchand-ébénistes such as Genty and Delorme. Apart from his extremely realistic floral marquetry, Latz's oeuvre is most readily identifiable by the distinctive gilt-bronze mounts he cast, in direct contravention of guild regulations (H. Hawley, 'Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinet Maker', Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, September/October 1970, p.207).
Genty and Latz are known to have collaborated as their stamps often appear side by side, as can be seen on the celebrated table méchanique at Waddesdon Manor, discussed in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, no.82, pp.394-397. This latter table is thought to have been executed by either Latz (d.1754) or his widow, Marie-Madeleine Seignat, who carried on using her husband's stamp from 1754-56, and retailed by Genty, who may have provided the mounts.
A related coiffeuse by Jacques-Philippe Carel was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 25 June 1982, lot 102.