THE LACQUERED-BRONZE FIGURES IN THE MANNER OF MARTIN FRÈRES

Deliberately decorated to resemble the finest and most expensive 17th Century Japanese lacquer, the production of lacquered-bronze figures has traditionally been associated almost exclusively with the Martin dynasty of lacquerers. This conclusion is supported both by contemporary documentary references - such as the 1753 reference in the Inventory of the comtesse de Maily - as well as the fact that the Martin dynasty was granted a Royal Patent to protect the vernis technique which they had invented, which was subsequently further enhanced in 1744 by a renewed one for lacquer wares en relief dans le goût du Japon et de la Chine. Indeed, by 1748 they had opened the manufacture Royale de vernis de la chine. C. Sargentson in Merchants and Luxury Markets: The Marchands-Merciers of Eighteenth Century Paris, London, 1996, however, has convincingly argued that there must have been a number of unknown craftsmen supplying such figures to the marchands-merciers, and indeed Parisian almanacs of the period often list several specialist in 'vernis'. Moreover, Jean Félix Watin, in his Le Peintre Doreur et Vernisseur of 1772, stated that ten different recipes for lacquer were being employed in Paris at that time, as well as going on to say that by the 1740s the Martin family was suffering from widespread competition, which had inevitably resulted in the prices for lacquer wares being forced down.

A pair of similar chinoiserie figures, one holding a parrot, the other a cage, from The Alexander Collection was sold at Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 36; while a mantel clock incorporating such figures and mounted with French porcelain was sold in the same sale, lot 35.