Lot Essay
Although to date the 18th century provenance of these pedestals has not been discovered, the contre partie pair to this model, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, has been traced to the sale of the dealer Antoine-Alexandre Dubois (sold Paillet, Paris, 18 December 1788, lot 168 to Berotaire for 5,599 livres). The Getty pair is illustrated in C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts: an Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 73, no. 197.
This pair of pedestals, at 1.26 meters high, is four centimeters higher than the Getty pair, a difference which can be explained by the incurved top section absent on the Getty pair. This small top section must have been added after 1827 as the Bonnemaison catalogue gives their height as 1.21 meters. The height of the Getty pair was also given as 1.21 meters in the 1788 Dubois sale. All other known pedestals of octagonal form which can be traced to 18th century sales are approximately 1.10 meters tall with the exception of the set of pedestals made for the Grand Dauphin.
It is likely that this pair and the Getty pair were commissioned at the same time in the early 18th century to decorate an important collector's gallery. It is interesting to note that Lebrun's plans for the Parterre d'Eau at Versailles included the casting of four bronze groups: The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas, by Marsy and Flamen, The Rape of Proserpine by Pluto, by Girardon, The Rape of Cybele by Saturn, by Reynardin and The Rape of Coronis by Neptune by Tuby. The last of these was never made and was probably replaced by The Rape of a Sabine. This set of four pedestals was probably intended to support bronze reductions of these groups which were produced from the end of the 17th century. The Getty pair was sold in the 1788 Dubois sale together with two large bronze groups of the The Rape of Orithyia and The Rape of Proserpine in the same lot. The 1730 inventory of the dealer Hébert's shop lists:
'deux très grands groupes de bronze à trois figures représentant des enlèvements sur leurs piédestaux de marquetterie garnis de bronze doré 1400 livres.'
Hébert very possibly bought them at the sale of a recently deceased collector such as Cardinal Dubois (died in 1723) who, although the inventory no longer exists, is known to have had an important collection of furniture and whose silver was purchased by the duc d'Orléans for 152,065 livres.
The presence on the Hamilton Palace pair of additional mounts on the bases struck with the 'C' couronné (not found on the Getty pair) would indicate that the four were split up prior to 1745 when this pair then passed through the trade.
PEDESTALS 'EN TOUR CREUSE'
Furetière's dictionary, published in 1690, describes an escabellon (pedestal) as:
'espèce de piédestal sur lequel on met des bustes dans les galeries et cabinets curieux. Il est haut de trois pieds et va en diminuant vers le bas. Il est d'ordinaire de marbre, on en fait aussi de bois marbre'
This form of concave-sided pedestal, also known as a tour creuse, was intended to be viewed from all four sides and was principally designed to support bronze statues or large vases. It is first mentioned in the 1689 inventory of 'agates, cristaux, porcelaine, bronzes et autres curiositez qui sont dans le cabinet de Monseigneur le Dauphin à Versailles'.
Listed under number 18 are:
'deux gros escabellons à huit pans dont quatre sont creux et les quatre autres unis à fond d'écaille ornez de feuillages de cuivre, enrichis de moulures cizelées de cuivre doré; au dessus desquels est un tapis à quatre pentes qui forment des chutes dont le fond est de couleur de lapis et d'estain, ornées de feuillages de mesme, avec un mollet de cuivre doré autour de chaque pente portez chaun sur 8 pommes d'ébenne couvertes de cuivre doré godronné. L'un desdits pans se ferme à clef hauts chacun de quatre pieds deux pouces' (136) M
The letter M in the margin indicates that the pedestals had been sent to the château of Meudon which belonged to the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. These two pedestals must have been delivered by Boulle as part of the Grand Dauphin's commissions executed between 1681 and 1685. These commissions included nine other pedestals, listed as numbers 13 to 17 in the above mentioned inventory, delivered at a cost of 4,950 livres in the first half of 1684. The coffer of sarcophagus shape was made by Boulle in 1683 and paid for on 9 January 1684 (J. Guiffry, Comptes des Bâtiments du Roi sous le Règne de Louis XIV, vol. II, Paris, 1887, 473).
The Grand Dauphin's pair of pedestals, which remained throughout the 18th century at Meudon are probably, as discovered by Ted Dell, those now slightly modified, belonging to the Institut de France in the Musée de Chaalis. The rather archaic design would indicate that the Chaalis pair were the first examples of this type of pedestal.
Pedestals en tour creuse are mentioned in a small number of 18th century sale catalogues:
-the Julienne sale, 30 March 1767, lot 1652, 1.11 meters high, with marble top
-the comte du Merle sale, 1 March 1784, lot 211; resold in the Vaudreuil sale, 26 November 1787, lot 363, described as being 1.11 meters high; resold in the Lerouge sale, 11 January 1799, lot 27
-the Trouard sale, 22 February 1779, lot 339, 1.12 meters high, sold to the dealer Paillet
-Four pedestals are briefly described in the sale of the stock of the dealer Julliot in 1803 and another appears in a watercolor of the salon bleu of the château de Sagan in the 19th century which was sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 4 March 1989, lot 23.
CHEVALIER FÉRRÉOL DE BONNEMAISON
A history painter and picture dealer, he was born in Toulouse and was one of Lucien Bonaparte's favorite painters. Under the Restauration he became curator of the duchesse de Berry's picture collection for which he published the printed catalogue. He was closely associated with the dealer Nicolas Lerouge, an alliance cemented by the marriage of their children. Bonnemaison travelled on Lerouge's behalf taking advantage of his social position to cultivate his contacts in Great Britain and is also known to have had dealings with Christie's in London. On his death in 1826, his furniture, pictures and works of art were valued at over 150,000 francs.
NICOLAS LEROUGE
The son of a laborer from the Champagne, he is recorded as living in 1773 in the rue de l'Arbre Sec at the time of his wedding to the widow of the leading dealer Pierre Lebrun. His wealth at the time was valued at 20,000 livres. He set up as a négociant and receveur of the loterie royale de France in the rue de Cléry, not far from his son-in-law Jean Baptiste Lebrun. His name appears often as a buyer in numerous auction sales at the end of the 18th century. His first wife died in 1787 and he remarried in 1794 to Barbe Françoise Bellanger at which time his stock was valued at 81,000 livres. Later he moved to the place des Victoires. His son-in-law Silex Quesnay-Lerouge married the daughter of Bonnemaison in 1819.
THE HAMILTON PALACE COLLECTION
Christie's sale of the collection of the 12th Duke of Hamilton, from Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, was one of the greatest disperals of French 18th century furniture and works of art ever carried out. The sale, which was held in London between 17 June and 20 July 1882, comprised 2,213 lots including old master paintings, japanese lacquer, tapestries, coins, medals, Greek vases, Renaissance bronzes and medieval works of art, Islamic glass, Limoges enamels, arms and armour as well as European and Oriental ceramics. The sale is fully discussed by Ronald Freyberger in "Eighteenth-Century French Furniture from Hamilton Palace", Apollo, vol. 114, December 1981, pp. 401-409.
The collection was mostly formed by the 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), a renowned connoisseur and son-in-law of William Beckford (1760-1844). The 10th Duke was particularly fond of the Louis XIV style and purchased the pair of armoires by André-Charles Boulle in the sale of Beckford's collection at Fonthill Abbey in 1823. This pair is now in the Louvre. After Beckford's death the remaining items from his collection were inherited by his daughter and transferred to Hamilton Palace. Other important items of French furniture in the collection included a lacquer commode and secrétaire en suite delivered by Riesener for Marie-Antoinette at Saint-Cloud and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the commode stamped by Levasseur and delivered by Julliot in 1777 for the comte d'Artois at the Palais du Temple and now at Versailles, as well as the bureau plat and cartonnier made for Lalive de Jully and now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly.
The 10th Duke bought heavily in Paris during the 1820's. At this time he commissioned designs which were never used for interiors at Hamilton Palace from Charles Percier (1764-1838) and two table bases for splendid antique porphyry tops from Denière in Paris. These tables, included in the 1823 exhibition of French industry at the Louvre, are discussed by R. Freyberger in 'The Duke of Hamilton's Porphyry Tables', The Magazine Antiques, September 1993, pp. 348-355. In addition, he purchased the Régence ormolu eight-light chandelier, lot 532 in the Hamilton Palace sale and resold Christie's Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 41, from Monsieur Rolland, one of his principal suppliers in Paris in 1826. This was probably part of a shipment sent to Hamilton Palace by Quinet in 1827.
The Bonnemaison provenance for this pair of pedestals was first identified by Ronald Freyberger in 'Eighteenth-Century French Furniture from Hamilton Palace', (op.cit.) in which he pointed out that Bonnemaison had previously acted as an intermediary between the 10th Duke and Jacques-Louis David. They match the description in the sale catalogue following Bonnemaison's death:
Deux piédestaux octogones (marqueterie de Boule) servant de cippes, enrichis de têtes, firses, moulures et autres ornemens de cuivre ciselé et doré. Hauteur trois pieds neuf pouces.
The following document from the Hamilton archives, which is signed Bonnemaison but preceeded by an illegible initial presumably that of his wife or member of the family, further confirms this provenance:
Je Soussignée reconnais avoir reçu des mains de Monsieur Quinet pour Monsieur le Duc d'Halmilton (sic) la Somme de trois mille franc, pour deux Colonnes octogones de Boule. Paris 12 fevrier 1827.
This would suggest that the Duke purchased the pedestals after the sale catalogue had been produced but prior to the sale itself. Certainly no known copies of the sale catalogue are marked with a sale price for this lot.
The pedestals are listed in the Duke of Hamilton's Dressing-Room in the 1835-1840 inventory. Described as 2 Ebony and Buhl and tortoise shell Pedestals with chased metal ornaments they supported 2 short verde antique pillars with metal bases. They are further listed in 1876 by which time they had been moved to the Bedroom in the suite of Tapestry Rooms with the following description: 2 Octogan Buhl Pedestals forming cupboards ornamented with gilt mouldings, 2 short verde antique columns/.... with metal bases, on top. The whole 5 feet 10in. high
This pair of pedestals, at 1.26 meters high, is four centimeters higher than the Getty pair, a difference which can be explained by the incurved top section absent on the Getty pair. This small top section must have been added after 1827 as the Bonnemaison catalogue gives their height as 1.21 meters. The height of the Getty pair was also given as 1.21 meters in the 1788 Dubois sale. All other known pedestals of octagonal form which can be traced to 18th century sales are approximately 1.10 meters tall with the exception of the set of pedestals made for the Grand Dauphin.
It is likely that this pair and the Getty pair were commissioned at the same time in the early 18th century to decorate an important collector's gallery. It is interesting to note that Lebrun's plans for the Parterre d'Eau at Versailles included the casting of four bronze groups: The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas, by Marsy and Flamen, The Rape of Proserpine by Pluto, by Girardon, The Rape of Cybele by Saturn, by Reynardin and The Rape of Coronis by Neptune by Tuby. The last of these was never made and was probably replaced by The Rape of a Sabine. This set of four pedestals was probably intended to support bronze reductions of these groups which were produced from the end of the 17th century. The Getty pair was sold in the 1788 Dubois sale together with two large bronze groups of the The Rape of Orithyia and The Rape of Proserpine in the same lot. The 1730 inventory of the dealer Hébert's shop lists:
'deux très grands groupes de bronze à trois figures représentant des enlèvements sur leurs piédestaux de marquetterie garnis de bronze doré 1400 livres.'
Hébert very possibly bought them at the sale of a recently deceased collector such as Cardinal Dubois (died in 1723) who, although the inventory no longer exists, is known to have had an important collection of furniture and whose silver was purchased by the duc d'Orléans for 152,065 livres.
The presence on the Hamilton Palace pair of additional mounts on the bases struck with the 'C' couronné (not found on the Getty pair) would indicate that the four were split up prior to 1745 when this pair then passed through the trade.
PEDESTALS 'EN TOUR CREUSE'
Furetière's dictionary, published in 1690, describes an escabellon (pedestal) as:
'espèce de piédestal sur lequel on met des bustes dans les galeries et cabinets curieux. Il est haut de trois pieds et va en diminuant vers le bas. Il est d'ordinaire de marbre, on en fait aussi de bois marbre'
This form of concave-sided pedestal, also known as a tour creuse, was intended to be viewed from all four sides and was principally designed to support bronze statues or large vases. It is first mentioned in the 1689 inventory of 'agates, cristaux, porcelaine, bronzes et autres curiositez qui sont dans le cabinet de Monseigneur le Dauphin à Versailles'.
Listed under number 18 are:
'deux gros escabellons à huit pans dont quatre sont creux et les quatre autres unis à fond d'écaille ornez de feuillages de cuivre, enrichis de moulures cizelées de cuivre doré; au dessus desquels est un tapis à quatre pentes qui forment des chutes dont le fond est de couleur de lapis et d'estain, ornées de feuillages de mesme, avec un mollet de cuivre doré autour de chaque pente portez chaun sur 8 pommes d'ébenne couvertes de cuivre doré godronné. L'un desdits pans se ferme à clef hauts chacun de quatre pieds deux pouces' (136) M
The letter M in the margin indicates that the pedestals had been sent to the château of Meudon which belonged to the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. These two pedestals must have been delivered by Boulle as part of the Grand Dauphin's commissions executed between 1681 and 1685. These commissions included nine other pedestals, listed as numbers 13 to 17 in the above mentioned inventory, delivered at a cost of 4,950 livres in the first half of 1684. The coffer of sarcophagus shape was made by Boulle in 1683 and paid for on 9 January 1684 (J. Guiffry, Comptes des Bâtiments du Roi sous le Règne de Louis XIV, vol. II, Paris, 1887, 473).
The Grand Dauphin's pair of pedestals, which remained throughout the 18th century at Meudon are probably, as discovered by Ted Dell, those now slightly modified, belonging to the Institut de France in the Musée de Chaalis. The rather archaic design would indicate that the Chaalis pair were the first examples of this type of pedestal.
Pedestals en tour creuse are mentioned in a small number of 18th century sale catalogues:
-the Julienne sale, 30 March 1767, lot 1652, 1.11 meters high, with marble top
-the comte du Merle sale, 1 March 1784, lot 211; resold in the Vaudreuil sale, 26 November 1787, lot 363, described as being 1.11 meters high; resold in the Lerouge sale, 11 January 1799, lot 27
-the Trouard sale, 22 February 1779, lot 339, 1.12 meters high, sold to the dealer Paillet
-Four pedestals are briefly described in the sale of the stock of the dealer Julliot in 1803 and another appears in a watercolor of the salon bleu of the château de Sagan in the 19th century which was sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 4 March 1989, lot 23.
CHEVALIER FÉRRÉOL DE BONNEMAISON
A history painter and picture dealer, he was born in Toulouse and was one of Lucien Bonaparte's favorite painters. Under the Restauration he became curator of the duchesse de Berry's picture collection for which he published the printed catalogue. He was closely associated with the dealer Nicolas Lerouge, an alliance cemented by the marriage of their children. Bonnemaison travelled on Lerouge's behalf taking advantage of his social position to cultivate his contacts in Great Britain and is also known to have had dealings with Christie's in London. On his death in 1826, his furniture, pictures and works of art were valued at over 150,000 francs.
NICOLAS LEROUGE
The son of a laborer from the Champagne, he is recorded as living in 1773 in the rue de l'Arbre Sec at the time of his wedding to the widow of the leading dealer Pierre Lebrun. His wealth at the time was valued at 20,000 livres. He set up as a négociant and receveur of the loterie royale de France in the rue de Cléry, not far from his son-in-law Jean Baptiste Lebrun. His name appears often as a buyer in numerous auction sales at the end of the 18th century. His first wife died in 1787 and he remarried in 1794 to Barbe Françoise Bellanger at which time his stock was valued at 81,000 livres. Later he moved to the place des Victoires. His son-in-law Silex Quesnay-Lerouge married the daughter of Bonnemaison in 1819.
THE HAMILTON PALACE COLLECTION
Christie's sale of the collection of the 12th Duke of Hamilton, from Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, was one of the greatest disperals of French 18th century furniture and works of art ever carried out. The sale, which was held in London between 17 June and 20 July 1882, comprised 2,213 lots including old master paintings, japanese lacquer, tapestries, coins, medals, Greek vases, Renaissance bronzes and medieval works of art, Islamic glass, Limoges enamels, arms and armour as well as European and Oriental ceramics. The sale is fully discussed by Ronald Freyberger in "Eighteenth-Century French Furniture from Hamilton Palace", Apollo, vol. 114, December 1981, pp. 401-409.
The collection was mostly formed by the 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), a renowned connoisseur and son-in-law of William Beckford (1760-1844). The 10th Duke was particularly fond of the Louis XIV style and purchased the pair of armoires by André-Charles Boulle in the sale of Beckford's collection at Fonthill Abbey in 1823. This pair is now in the Louvre. After Beckford's death the remaining items from his collection were inherited by his daughter and transferred to Hamilton Palace. Other important items of French furniture in the collection included a lacquer commode and secrétaire en suite delivered by Riesener for Marie-Antoinette at Saint-Cloud and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the commode stamped by Levasseur and delivered by Julliot in 1777 for the comte d'Artois at the Palais du Temple and now at Versailles, as well as the bureau plat and cartonnier made for Lalive de Jully and now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly.
The 10th Duke bought heavily in Paris during the 1820's. At this time he commissioned designs which were never used for interiors at Hamilton Palace from Charles Percier (1764-1838) and two table bases for splendid antique porphyry tops from Denière in Paris. These tables, included in the 1823 exhibition of French industry at the Louvre, are discussed by R. Freyberger in 'The Duke of Hamilton's Porphyry Tables', The Magazine Antiques, September 1993, pp. 348-355. In addition, he purchased the Régence ormolu eight-light chandelier, lot 532 in the Hamilton Palace sale and resold Christie's Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 41, from Monsieur Rolland, one of his principal suppliers in Paris in 1826. This was probably part of a shipment sent to Hamilton Palace by Quinet in 1827.
The Bonnemaison provenance for this pair of pedestals was first identified by Ronald Freyberger in 'Eighteenth-Century French Furniture from Hamilton Palace', (op.cit.) in which he pointed out that Bonnemaison had previously acted as an intermediary between the 10th Duke and Jacques-Louis David. They match the description in the sale catalogue following Bonnemaison's death:
Deux piédestaux octogones (marqueterie de Boule) servant de cippes, enrichis de têtes, firses, moulures et autres ornemens de cuivre ciselé et doré. Hauteur trois pieds neuf pouces.
The following document from the Hamilton archives, which is signed Bonnemaison but preceeded by an illegible initial presumably that of his wife or member of the family, further confirms this provenance:
Je Soussignée reconnais avoir reçu des mains de Monsieur Quinet pour Monsieur le Duc d'Halmilton (sic) la Somme de trois mille franc, pour deux Colonnes octogones de Boule. Paris 12 fevrier 1827.
This would suggest that the Duke purchased the pedestals after the sale catalogue had been produced but prior to the sale itself. Certainly no known copies of the sale catalogue are marked with a sale price for this lot.
The pedestals are listed in the Duke of Hamilton's Dressing-Room in the 1835-1840 inventory. Described as 2 Ebony and Buhl and tortoise shell Pedestals with chased metal ornaments they supported 2 short verde antique pillars with metal bases. They are further listed in 1876 by which time they had been moved to the Bedroom in the suite of Tapestry Rooms with the following description: 2 Octogan Buhl Pedestals forming cupboards ornamented with gilt mouldings, 2 short verde antique columns/.... with metal bases, on top. The whole 5 feet 10in. high