Lot Essay
Pierre Daneau, active till 1735.
This dynasty of ébénistes has previously been virtually unknown to date and will be discussed here for the first time.
Pierre Daneau, the son of a wine merchant, was born in 1673 in Paris. In June 1702, when he married the daughter of a marchand-tonnelier, he was listed as marqueteur on metal. The marriage contract was signed by the ébéniste Jean-Michel Ziegler. Daneau had three sons; Pierre, Pierre-François and Louis-Simon. Pierre settled in Italy around 1725, which is confirmed by two tables, published by A. González-Palacios, which are signed Fait Par Moy Pierre Daneau, Parisien à Rome Lan De Grase 1731 (A. González-Palacios, Fasto Romano, Rome, 1991, pl. XLVI and XLVII, cat. 92 and 93).
The atelier of Pierre Daneau le père, which was in the rue Saint Honoré, had not yet achieved any particular success when he died in 1735. His widow tried to avoid drawing up an inventory but had to do so ten years later when her son Pierre-François got married. The merchandise was valued by Gérard Vermunt and Gilles Joubert. Daneau's widow and her children produced old-fashioned furniture, which led to two ebony and marquetry bookcases being valued at only 250 livres.
The inventory further lists two kingwood-veneered commodes with metal mounts and marble tops and an amaranth-veneered commode and a Régence commode with tortoiseshell marquetry. The main part of the stock consisted of two regulator cases, thirteen clock cases and 45 'pocket-watches'.
The workshop also contained deux dessus de commodes avec un quart de rond de fonte, several pieces of furniture in cherrywood and deux corps de commodes poirier noircy avec leurs tiroirs de bois de noyer et incrusté de cuivre et de nacre de perle.
It is surprising that Daneau's widow owned bronze models - 80 livres worth of copper for models and 52 livres worth of cast copper are also inventoried. Tortoiseshell, palisander, amaranth, king and olivewood were also among the materials in the workshop. She sold her production to marchands-merciers but pieces were also bought directly by clients, such as the president de Saint-Lubin and the King's goldsmith Thomas Germain, who paid 120 livres on 8 November 1745 as remainder of a larger commission.
These mounts can be attributed to the workshop of Pierre Daneau. Contrary to most ébénistes of the 18th Century, Daneau, Boulle as well as Cressent owned their own models for mounts. The angle mounts with the distinctive heads can therefore be attributed to the atelier of Pierre Daneau or his widow.
A pair of closely related commodes, with identical mounts but with marble tops, which are signed by Pierre Daneau and dated 1733, are at Firle Place, Sussex.
This dynasty of ébénistes has previously been virtually unknown to date and will be discussed here for the first time.
Pierre Daneau, the son of a wine merchant, was born in 1673 in Paris. In June 1702, when he married the daughter of a marchand-tonnelier, he was listed as marqueteur on metal. The marriage contract was signed by the ébéniste Jean-Michel Ziegler. Daneau had three sons; Pierre, Pierre-François and Louis-Simon. Pierre settled in Italy around 1725, which is confirmed by two tables, published by A. González-Palacios, which are signed Fait Par Moy Pierre Daneau, Parisien à Rome Lan De Grase 1731 (A. González-Palacios, Fasto Romano, Rome, 1991, pl. XLVI and XLVII, cat. 92 and 93).
The atelier of Pierre Daneau le père, which was in the rue Saint Honoré, had not yet achieved any particular success when he died in 1735. His widow tried to avoid drawing up an inventory but had to do so ten years later when her son Pierre-François got married. The merchandise was valued by Gérard Vermunt and Gilles Joubert. Daneau's widow and her children produced old-fashioned furniture, which led to two ebony and marquetry bookcases being valued at only 250 livres.
The inventory further lists two kingwood-veneered commodes with metal mounts and marble tops and an amaranth-veneered commode and a Régence commode with tortoiseshell marquetry. The main part of the stock consisted of two regulator cases, thirteen clock cases and 45 'pocket-watches'.
The workshop also contained deux dessus de commodes avec un quart de rond de fonte, several pieces of furniture in cherrywood and deux corps de commodes poirier noircy avec leurs tiroirs de bois de noyer et incrusté de cuivre et de nacre de perle.
It is surprising that Daneau's widow owned bronze models - 80 livres worth of copper for models and 52 livres worth of cast copper are also inventoried. Tortoiseshell, palisander, amaranth, king and olivewood were also among the materials in the workshop. She sold her production to marchands-merciers but pieces were also bought directly by clients, such as the president de Saint-Lubin and the King's goldsmith Thomas Germain, who paid 120 livres on 8 November 1745 as remainder of a larger commission.
These mounts can be attributed to the workshop of Pierre Daneau. Contrary to most ébénistes of the 18th Century, Daneau, Boulle as well as Cressent owned their own models for mounts. The angle mounts with the distinctive heads can therefore be attributed to the atelier of Pierre Daneau or his widow.
A pair of closely related commodes, with identical mounts but with marble tops, which are signed by Pierre Daneau and dated 1733, are at Firle Place, Sussex.