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Lot Essay
Pierre Roussel, matre in 1745
Established in the rue de Charenton at l'Image de St. Pierre, Roussel was described as early as 1769 in the Almanach de Vray Merit as l'un des premiers bnistes de Paris. Particularly renowned for his floral marquetry, often executed for the German market and characterised by the heavy use of engraving to enhance its naturalistic quality, this commode typifies Roussel's style of the early 1760's. An almost identical commode, also retaining its original engraving, but with slightly differing encadrements and rocaille angle-mounts, is illustrated from the collection of S. Chalom in P. Verlet, French Cabinetmakers of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1965, p.131, fig.4.
The Inventory drawn up by Leleu and Cochois following Roussel's death in 1783 reveals an atelier at the height of its activity. However, whilst most of the bnisterie appears to have been executed on the premises, often by Roussel's sons Pierre Michel (matre in 1766) and Pierre le Jeune (matre in 1771), the ormolu mounts were supplied by specialist bronziers, including Turchin, Ravrio and the doreur Trufot. It is, therefore, not surprising that the same encadrement mounts feature on commodes by both Mathieu Criaerd and the marchand-bniste Adrien-Faizelot Delorme (ibid., pp.72-3 and 117), whilst the same got grec angle-mounts are to be found in the oeuvre of Jean-Baptiste Fromageau (matre in 1755 - P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Franais du XVIIIe Sicle, Paris, 1989, p.329-30).
Established in the rue de Charenton at l'Image de St. Pierre, Roussel was described as early as 1769 in the Almanach de Vray Merit as l'un des premiers bnistes de Paris. Particularly renowned for his floral marquetry, often executed for the German market and characterised by the heavy use of engraving to enhance its naturalistic quality, this commode typifies Roussel's style of the early 1760's. An almost identical commode, also retaining its original engraving, but with slightly differing encadrements and rocaille angle-mounts, is illustrated from the collection of S. Chalom in P. Verlet, French Cabinetmakers of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1965, p.131, fig.4.
The Inventory drawn up by Leleu and Cochois following Roussel's death in 1783 reveals an atelier at the height of its activity. However, whilst most of the bnisterie appears to have been executed on the premises, often by Roussel's sons Pierre Michel (matre in 1766) and Pierre le Jeune (matre in 1771), the ormolu mounts were supplied by specialist bronziers, including Turchin, Ravrio and the doreur Trufot. It is, therefore, not surprising that the same encadrement mounts feature on commodes by both Mathieu Criaerd and the marchand-bniste Adrien-Faizelot Delorme (ibid., pp.72-3 and 117), whilst the same got grec angle-mounts are to be found in the oeuvre of Jean-Baptiste Fromageau (matre in 1755 - P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Franais du XVIIIe Sicle, Paris, 1989, p.329-30).