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Lot Essay
The ormolu-enriched mahogany bonheur-du-jour is embellished with tle peint, medallions and tablets framed in Etruscan-pearled borders in the antique manner of the 1760s and beautifully painted with bouquets and a garland on a white ground in the trompe l'oeil Svres style. The rose-bordered plaques of bouquets are wreathed by a flowered ribbon-guilloche and ormolu flowered-acanthus spandrels. The ormolu-enriched pilasters of the book-cabinet are embellished with arabesque flowered vases, and its marble top, festooned with drapery, is fitted on three legs with garlanded Ionic capitals, are surmounted by laurel-sprigs issuing from veil-draped tripods.
A secrtaire bonheur du jour of this model was in the collection of the painter Philippe Louis Parizeau, (1740-1801), described on 26 May 1792, under the number 107 as: 'Un trs jolie meuble formant bonheur du jour en bois d'acajou, les paneaux en tle cernie enrichi de pendentifs en arabesque, les frises dans le genre arabesque, les dessus en marbre statuaire avec gallerie, les pieds cariels et surmontes d'un chapiteau ionique compos.'
The present lot, varies slightly from this one, which is smaller and embellished with arabesques instead of floral motifs.
The bouquet plaques correspond to those on a mahogany commode, embellished with Paris porcelain, that was also executed by Godefroy Dester, and delivered by the marchand Claude Delaroue of the rue St. Denis in 1785 for the Comte d'Artois' bedroom in the Petit Appartement at his Temple at Bagatelle (D. Alcouffe, et al, La Folie D'Artois, Paris, 1988, p.115, fig. 23). The latter's fluted legs were similarly enriched with reeded chandelles as 'tres richement garnies de moulures de cuivre a feuilles d'eau'. (It was inventoried in 1833 in the collection of the 6th Earl of Plymouth and sold in these Rooms, 17 June 1987, lot 70). The same marchand, delivered a table crire to the Comte d'Artois which was decorated with 'frises vernies sur tle peinte en arabesque' and lapis coloured tle medallions for the price of 840 livres
The technique of tle peint, was invented in 1740 in Italy. It was introduced to France in 1763, to rival the use of lacquer, it became immediately fashionable and many different types of objects were created. Its popularity at this period is demonstrated by the 1771 announcement made in L'Avant Coureur by the mercier Charles-Raymond Granchez, bijoutier to Marie Antoinette, that he was employing craftsmen who had previously worked for the Petite Pologne manufacture de tle vernie established in 1768 (C. Sargentson, Merchants and Luxury Markets, Frome, 1996, p. 88).
A secrtaire bonheur du jour of this model was in the collection of the painter Philippe Louis Parizeau, (1740-1801), described on 26 May 1792, under the number 107 as: 'Un trs jolie meuble formant bonheur du jour en bois d'acajou, les paneaux en tle cernie enrichi de pendentifs en arabesque, les frises dans le genre arabesque, les dessus en marbre statuaire avec gallerie, les pieds cariels et surmontes d'un chapiteau ionique compos.'
The present lot, varies slightly from this one, which is smaller and embellished with arabesques instead of floral motifs.
The bouquet plaques correspond to those on a mahogany commode, embellished with Paris porcelain, that was also executed by Godefroy Dester, and delivered by the marchand Claude Delaroue of the rue St. Denis in 1785 for the Comte d'Artois' bedroom in the Petit Appartement at his Temple at Bagatelle (D. Alcouffe, et al, La Folie D'Artois, Paris, 1988, p.115, fig. 23). The latter's fluted legs were similarly enriched with reeded chandelles as 'tres richement garnies de moulures de cuivre a feuilles d'eau'. (It was inventoried in 1833 in the collection of the 6th Earl of Plymouth and sold in these Rooms, 17 June 1987, lot 70). The same marchand, delivered a table crire to the Comte d'Artois which was decorated with 'frises vernies sur tle peinte en arabesque' and lapis coloured tle medallions for the price of 840 livres
The technique of tle peint, was invented in 1740 in Italy. It was introduced to France in 1763, to rival the use of lacquer, it became immediately fashionable and many different types of objects were created. Its popularity at this period is demonstrated by the 1771 announcement made in L'Avant Coureur by the mercier Charles-Raymond Granchez, bijoutier to Marie Antoinette, that he was employing craftsmen who had previously worked for the Petite Pologne manufacture de tle vernie established in 1768 (C. Sargentson, Merchants and Luxury Markets, Frome, 1996, p. 88).