Lot Essay
The inventory drawn up of M. de Nogaret's Paris apartment following his death in 1806 lists amongst a profusion of furniture, bronzes, porcelain and pictures:
L'enfant d'après Pigalle, nommé l'enfant à la cage et appuyé sur un tambour formant pendule le tout posé sur un socle en ébène orné de bronzes 200...
and Une grande fontaine!, à rabatement avec six tiroirs au dessus et armoire au dessous en bois d'ébène enrichi de bronze doré
(the reference to une grande fontaine is difficult to interpret and does, almost certainly, constitute a slip of the tongue)
The secétaire fountain is further associated with two Boulle cabinets and the group is valued at a total of 300 francs.
The sale which took place following the inventory on 6 April 1807 records lot 789 as:
un secrétaire à rabattement en ébène richement orné de bronze...
The lot sold for 500 francs, an important amount at the time.
The clock, however, was not mentionned in the catalogue as it had been specifically bequeathed to Dominique Vincent Ramel-Nogaret, heir to the deceased. It is probable that he bought the secrétaire back and joined it up with the clock after 1807.
Whilst it can not be proven that this is Nogaret's secrétaire, the evidence clearly points to it being his, supported by the following: - Nogaret's secrétaire was veneered in ebony which is unusual for the 18th Century
- It had a fallfront which was richly decorated with gilt bronze
- And in particular that there were six drawers above the fall-front.
This combined with the presence of the clock designed by Pigalle on an ebony pedestal, does point to it being Nogaret's secrétaire. On examination of the existing secrétaire, there is a well below the clock which could have housed a mechanical movement for the fountain which seems to have caught the main attention of the clerk when drawing up the inventory. The linking of the two pieces, the one in the inventory and this lot, is further reinforced by the fact that there was only one ebony piece mentioned in the inventory, and that there was likewise only one described in the sale catalogue.
M. de NOGARET
Born in 1734 into a wealthy family - father was a leader of the gobelet du roi - in the Languedoc region, Armand Frédéric Ernest de Nogaret first became premier Commis of the duc de la Vrillière (1753 to 1775) and was later appointed secretary to the King and Trésorier or Treasurer to comte d'Artois (1774 to 1780), a perilous but lucrative position. He encountered all the marchands to the brother of Louis XVI. In 1777 his fortune enabled him to buy a château and several paintings, pieces of furniture and works of art. From the Randon de Boisset sale he was able to acquire an important clock. L ater he acquired sculptures by Legros, Bouchardon and Mignot. At the time of his death on 5 July 1806 this great collector owed money to Avisse, who had delivered armchairs, and also to the bronziers Delafontaine and Petit, to the horloger Tavernier and to the marchand de curiosités Adoze.
THE CLOCK
The figure of the child is inspired by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle's sculpture l'enfant à la cage executed in 1749 and exhibited for the first time in 1750 in the Salon. Some bronze copies were cast after the model in Pigalle's lifetime, and indeed the artist owned one displayed one in his sitting-room. The bronze of the clock is not an exact copy of the statue; the infant's appearance and the richly decorated cushion indicates a different hand.
This model was probably designed by the bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain. The stock of the bronzier was bought by the doreur-fondeur Marcel-François Noël on 6 March 1777, and a year later he was bankrupt. In the inventory of his stock was mentioned:
Une boite de pendule ronde à soc de marbre représentant un enfant sur un coussin tenant son pied et appuyé sur la dite boite.
It is important to note that Nogaret knew Noël through his function as treasurer to the Prince and he indeed signed the payment orders where Noël, as important supplier, often appeared.
Other clocks of this model are known, such as one in the collection of the fermier général Boullongne de Magnanville, sold in Paris on 22 November 1787:
no 117 une autre pendule en forme de tambour, un enfant nu, assis, fort comme nature sur un cousin et appuyé dessus, le tout en bronze doré, mouvement de roque à Paris et posé sur un pied d'ébène oval, porté par quatre pieds en bronze ayant vingt pouces de hauteur sur seize pouces de face enveloppé d'un bocal de verre.
This clock was bought by Boullongne de Magnanville between 1775 and 1787 as the inventory taken of the wife of the fermier général in 1775 does not mention a clock of this model.
A further model on a white marble base and with unknown maker of movements is in the collection of the Queen of Denmark, Frederiksborg Palace.
Another version with red porphyry base and movement by Lepaute in Paris, formerly in the collection of the duchesse de Talleyrand et Sagan and sold in Paris 19-20 June 1907, lot 50, then bought back and sold from the property of the duc de Talleyrand-Périgord, removed from the château de Valençay was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 23 February 1986, lot 909.
A further version on an ebony base and with movement by Répond à Paris, from the Fould Collection, sold in Paris, 14 May 1898, lot 265, then in the collection of the comtesse Diane de Castellane, was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 9 December 1995, lot 52.
Another version with ebony base and movement by Julien Le Roy, with bronze patinated figure was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 29 May 1965, lot 37.
PIERRE MACRET
Pierre Macret, born in 1727, married at the age of 20 and, in December 1756, became marchand-ébéniste privilégié du Roi suivant la cour et conseils de sa majesté, replacing the widow of Latz.
The records of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux reveal a debt of 1169 livres to Macret by December 1758. At the same time he worked with the marchand Darnault, demonstrated by a commode which was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 362. Newspaper advertisements reveal that he worked in the rue Saint Honoré in the hotel d'Auvergne, close to Saint Roch, in 1763. He made embroidery frames as well as small chiffoniers with floral marquetry.
In 1767 he had a dispute with one of his important clients, Gaillard de Beaumanoir, concerning a secrétaire which the ébéniste had to alter on the instructions of the client. This transformation of adding three drawers above a reduced fallfront was badly executed and the two craftsmen who had to judge the piece contradicted each other. Macret had chosen Adrien Delorme and Beaumanoir chose Montigny.
The marquis de Marigny, Directeur des Bâtiments, bought 1890 livres worth of furniture from him in 1770. In 1771 Macret changed his status and became marchand-mercier in Paris. He was fournisseur ordinaire des menus-plaisirs du Roi from 1764 to 1771. In accordance with his new status he chose a more comfortable house in the rue Saint-Honoré, in April 1772. It was a strategic choice, his new home being close to Dulac, Poirier and Granchez, which furthened his business. His son Pierre-François helped his father and in 1774, when he married the daughter of a fondeur, he also became A marchand-mercier.
Shortly before 1772 he delivered 1222 livres worth of furniture to the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette, and the marquis de Monconseil, father of princesse d'Henin, had ordered furniture valued at 4690 livres.
Many of the bronzes, which enriched his furniture, were cast and chased by Philippe Pajot who, in 1761, had his workshop in the same building as Macret. In December 1774 and May 1775 he sold his tools and stock to concentrate fully on the trade with objets de luxe. In 1781 he qualified as a bourgeois de Paris.
Macret had three children and in 1777 bought a large property in the rue Moreau, in the faubourg Saint Antoine. He built several houses which he rented out on this property and he further bought a farm in Tournon, Brie. He seems to have retired in 1787, and was still alive when his wife died in 1798.
His works are exhibited in many museums including:
- Nissim de Camondo Museum, Paris
- Château de Versailles
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Hillwood House - Washington
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Collection of Thyssen-Bornemisza
JOSEPH BUZOT
The son of a spring-mechanism producer, Buzot became maître-horloger by decree of the counsel on 27 May 1770. He was established in the rue des Fossés, Montmartre, and on 19 December 1778 married the wife of a wig-maker from Nantes.
NEO-CLASSICAL FURNITURE
This secrétaire is characteristic of the neo-classical style of the early 1760s which ceased in the late 1770s. In 1761 Charles de Wailly exhibited a piece of furniture made by the ébéniste Pierre Garnier which les amateurs trouvent qu'il est traité dans le meilleur goût de Boulle. Garnier was also the maker of a bureau plat decorated with comparable Ionic capitals which was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 30 October 1993, no.403.
Likewise, Adrien Delorme, Pierre Macret's friend, made a marquetry secrétaire which has angles decorated with pilasters and Ionic capitals (sold anonymously at Ader Tajan, Hotel Georges V, Paris, 29 March 1994, lot 65).
Similar Ionic capitals can also be found on a lacquer and ebony cabinet stamped by Joseph in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, (C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 19, cat. 13) as well as on a bureau plat made by the same ébéniste, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1981, lot 144.
Concerning ebony furniture, the marquis de Marigny wrote:
les meubles d'ébéne et bronze sont beaucoup plus nobles que les meubles en acajou surtout dans une bibliothèque....
L'enfant d'après Pigalle, nommé l'enfant à la cage et appuyé sur un tambour formant pendule le tout posé sur un socle en ébène orné de bronzes 200...
and Une grande fontaine!, à rabatement avec six tiroirs au dessus et armoire au dessous en bois d'ébène enrichi de bronze doré
(the reference to une grande fontaine is difficult to interpret and does, almost certainly, constitute a slip of the tongue)
The secétaire fountain is further associated with two Boulle cabinets and the group is valued at a total of 300 francs.
The sale which took place following the inventory on 6 April 1807 records lot 789 as:
un secrétaire à rabattement en ébène richement orné de bronze...
The lot sold for 500 francs, an important amount at the time.
The clock, however, was not mentionned in the catalogue as it had been specifically bequeathed to Dominique Vincent Ramel-Nogaret, heir to the deceased. It is probable that he bought the secrétaire back and joined it up with the clock after 1807.
Whilst it can not be proven that this is Nogaret's secrétaire, the evidence clearly points to it being his, supported by the following: - Nogaret's secrétaire was veneered in ebony which is unusual for the 18th Century
- It had a fallfront which was richly decorated with gilt bronze
- And in particular that there were six drawers above the fall-front.
This combined with the presence of the clock designed by Pigalle on an ebony pedestal, does point to it being Nogaret's secrétaire. On examination of the existing secrétaire, there is a well below the clock which could have housed a mechanical movement for the fountain which seems to have caught the main attention of the clerk when drawing up the inventory. The linking of the two pieces, the one in the inventory and this lot, is further reinforced by the fact that there was only one ebony piece mentioned in the inventory, and that there was likewise only one described in the sale catalogue.
M. de NOGARET
Born in 1734 into a wealthy family - father was a leader of the gobelet du roi - in the Languedoc region, Armand Frédéric Ernest de Nogaret first became premier Commis of the duc de la Vrillière (1753 to 1775) and was later appointed secretary to the King and Trésorier or Treasurer to comte d'Artois (1774 to 1780), a perilous but lucrative position. He encountered all the marchands to the brother of Louis XVI. In 1777 his fortune enabled him to buy a château and several paintings, pieces of furniture and works of art. From the Randon de Boisset sale he was able to acquire an important clock. L ater he acquired sculptures by Legros, Bouchardon and Mignot. At the time of his death on 5 July 1806 this great collector owed money to Avisse, who had delivered armchairs, and also to the bronziers Delafontaine and Petit, to the horloger Tavernier and to the marchand de curiosités Adoze.
THE CLOCK
The figure of the child is inspired by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle's sculpture l'enfant à la cage executed in 1749 and exhibited for the first time in 1750 in the Salon. Some bronze copies were cast after the model in Pigalle's lifetime, and indeed the artist owned one displayed one in his sitting-room. The bronze of the clock is not an exact copy of the statue; the infant's appearance and the richly decorated cushion indicates a different hand.
This model was probably designed by the bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain. The stock of the bronzier was bought by the doreur-fondeur Marcel-François Noël on 6 March 1777, and a year later he was bankrupt. In the inventory of his stock was mentioned:
Une boite de pendule ronde à soc de marbre représentant un enfant sur un coussin tenant son pied et appuyé sur la dite boite.
It is important to note that Nogaret knew Noël through his function as treasurer to the Prince and he indeed signed the payment orders where Noël, as important supplier, often appeared.
Other clocks of this model are known, such as one in the collection of the fermier général Boullongne de Magnanville, sold in Paris on 22 November 1787:
no 117 une autre pendule en forme de tambour, un enfant nu, assis, fort comme nature sur un cousin et appuyé dessus, le tout en bronze doré, mouvement de roque à Paris et posé sur un pied d'ébène oval, porté par quatre pieds en bronze ayant vingt pouces de hauteur sur seize pouces de face enveloppé d'un bocal de verre.
This clock was bought by Boullongne de Magnanville between 1775 and 1787 as the inventory taken of the wife of the fermier général in 1775 does not mention a clock of this model.
A further model on a white marble base and with unknown maker of movements is in the collection of the Queen of Denmark, Frederiksborg Palace.
Another version with red porphyry base and movement by Lepaute in Paris, formerly in the collection of the duchesse de Talleyrand et Sagan and sold in Paris 19-20 June 1907, lot 50, then bought back and sold from the property of the duc de Talleyrand-Périgord, removed from the château de Valençay was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 23 February 1986, lot 909.
A further version on an ebony base and with movement by Répond à Paris, from the Fould Collection, sold in Paris, 14 May 1898, lot 265, then in the collection of the comtesse Diane de Castellane, was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 9 December 1995, lot 52.
Another version with ebony base and movement by Julien Le Roy, with bronze patinated figure was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 29 May 1965, lot 37.
PIERRE MACRET
Pierre Macret, born in 1727, married at the age of 20 and, in December 1756, became marchand-ébéniste privilégié du Roi suivant la cour et conseils de sa majesté, replacing the widow of Latz.
The records of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux reveal a debt of 1169 livres to Macret by December 1758. At the same time he worked with the marchand Darnault, demonstrated by a commode which was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 20 June 1994, lot 362. Newspaper advertisements reveal that he worked in the rue Saint Honoré in the hotel d'Auvergne, close to Saint Roch, in 1763. He made embroidery frames as well as small chiffoniers with floral marquetry.
In 1767 he had a dispute with one of his important clients, Gaillard de Beaumanoir, concerning a secrétaire which the ébéniste had to alter on the instructions of the client. This transformation of adding three drawers above a reduced fallfront was badly executed and the two craftsmen who had to judge the piece contradicted each other. Macret had chosen Adrien Delorme and Beaumanoir chose Montigny.
The marquis de Marigny, Directeur des Bâtiments, bought 1890 livres worth of furniture from him in 1770. In 1771 Macret changed his status and became marchand-mercier in Paris. He was fournisseur ordinaire des menus-plaisirs du Roi from 1764 to 1771. In accordance with his new status he chose a more comfortable house in the rue Saint-Honoré, in April 1772. It was a strategic choice, his new home being close to Dulac, Poirier and Granchez, which furthened his business. His son Pierre-François helped his father and in 1774, when he married the daughter of a fondeur, he also became A marchand-mercier.
Shortly before 1772 he delivered 1222 livres worth of furniture to the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette, and the marquis de Monconseil, father of princesse d'Henin, had ordered furniture valued at 4690 livres.
Many of the bronzes, which enriched his furniture, were cast and chased by Philippe Pajot who, in 1761, had his workshop in the same building as Macret. In December 1774 and May 1775 he sold his tools and stock to concentrate fully on the trade with objets de luxe. In 1781 he qualified as a bourgeois de Paris.
Macret had three children and in 1777 bought a large property in the rue Moreau, in the faubourg Saint Antoine. He built several houses which he rented out on this property and he further bought a farm in Tournon, Brie. He seems to have retired in 1787, and was still alive when his wife died in 1798.
His works are exhibited in many museums including:
- Nissim de Camondo Museum, Paris
- Château de Versailles
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Hillwood House - Washington
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Collection of Thyssen-Bornemisza
JOSEPH BUZOT
The son of a spring-mechanism producer, Buzot became maître-horloger by decree of the counsel on 27 May 1770. He was established in the rue des Fossés, Montmartre, and on 19 December 1778 married the wife of a wig-maker from Nantes.
NEO-CLASSICAL FURNITURE
This secrétaire is characteristic of the neo-classical style of the early 1760s which ceased in the late 1770s. In 1761 Charles de Wailly exhibited a piece of furniture made by the ébéniste Pierre Garnier which les amateurs trouvent qu'il est traité dans le meilleur goût de Boulle. Garnier was also the maker of a bureau plat decorated with comparable Ionic capitals which was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 30 October 1993, no.403.
Likewise, Adrien Delorme, Pierre Macret's friend, made a marquetry secrétaire which has angles decorated with pilasters and Ionic capitals (sold anonymously at Ader Tajan, Hotel Georges V, Paris, 29 March 1994, lot 65).
Similar Ionic capitals can also be found on a lacquer and ebony cabinet stamped by Joseph in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, (C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 19, cat. 13) as well as on a bureau plat made by the same ébéniste, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1981, lot 144.
Concerning ebony furniture, the marquis de Marigny wrote:
les meubles d'ébéne et bronze sont beaucoup plus nobles que les meubles en acajou surtout dans une bibliothèque....