Lot Essay
The design of the legs with their double-chandelle fluted capitals is characteristic of Simon Oeben's oeuvre. This motif is shared with the cradle in the Jones Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum (1799-1882), the cube-parquetry bonheur du jour from the collection of the Earls of Lonsdale at Lowther Castle, Cumbria (sold from the Fermor-Hesketh Collection in these Rooms, 23 June 1988, lot 133), and the cylinder-bureau in the Gage Collection at Firle Place, Sussex. A further related example is at Temple Newsam, Leeds.
SIMON OEBEN
Principal compagnon-ébéniste in the atelier of his brother, Jean-Francois Oeben, Simon Oeben retained his brother's workshop in the Gobelins when the latter, as ébéniste du Roi, established himself at the Arsenal in 1756. A creditor of Madame de Pompadour in 1764, he was appointed maître in 1769 and was extensively patronised by the marquis de Marigny and, above all, by the duc de Choiseul. This is underlined by the portrait of the duc painted by A. Labille-Guiard in 1786, which depicts a cradle undoubtedly supplied by Simon Oeben. Expelled from the corporation between 1770-2, Simon Oeben died in poverty in 1786.
The crowned marque au feu 'CAP' remains unidentified. It does, however, seem to have been employed at the very end of the 18th Century on furniture of extremely good quality, such as the Louis XVI fauteuil sold anonymously at Christie's, New York, 21 April 1979, lot 116, the Louis XVI mahogany chair stamped Moreau in a private collection, the Louis XVI table á la tronchin sold in Paris, galerie Charpentier, 9 December 1952, lot 144 and the commode attributed to Jean-Henri Riesener, which was sold from the de Beech Collection in Paris, 11 June 1945, lot 132.
SIMON OEBEN
Principal compagnon-ébéniste in the atelier of his brother, Jean-Francois Oeben, Simon Oeben retained his brother's workshop in the Gobelins when the latter, as ébéniste du Roi, established himself at the Arsenal in 1756. A creditor of Madame de Pompadour in 1764, he was appointed maître in 1769 and was extensively patronised by the marquis de Marigny and, above all, by the duc de Choiseul. This is underlined by the portrait of the duc painted by A. Labille-Guiard in 1786, which depicts a cradle undoubtedly supplied by Simon Oeben. Expelled from the corporation between 1770-2, Simon Oeben died in poverty in 1786.
The crowned marque au feu 'CAP' remains unidentified. It does, however, seem to have been employed at the very end of the 18th Century on furniture of extremely good quality, such as the Louis XVI fauteuil sold anonymously at Christie's, New York, 21 April 1979, lot 116, the Louis XVI mahogany chair stamped Moreau in a private collection, the Louis XVI table á la tronchin sold in Paris, galerie Charpentier, 9 December 1952, lot 144 and the commode attributed to Jean-Henri Riesener, which was sold from the de Beech Collection in Paris, 11 June 1945, lot 132.