Lot Essay
The present drawing was used by Boucher on no less than five occasions in his Chinoiseries in the late 1730's and early 1740s. It appears in the design of two tapestries, Le Festin de l'Empereur de Chine and La Danse Chinoise, commissioned by the Manufacture de Beauvais and exhibited at the Salon of 1742. The Manufacture wanted to renew the cartoons of their Chinoiseries which dated from the 1690s with designs by Vernasal, Blin de Fontenay and Monnoyer. Boucher had been asked to collaborate with the Manufacture de Beauvais which was in fierce competition with the Manufacture des Gobelins. Success was immediate, and a set of the new tapestries was sent to the Emperor of China.
It was, however, not the first time that Boucher made use of this drawing. It had been engraved with numerous differences in reverse by Huquier in Le Carillon, one of a series of twelve prints entitled Scènes de la vie chinoise, possibly dating from around 1737, P. Jean-Richard, L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Paris, 1978, no. 1125, illustrated. The figure was re-used a few years later in Le concert chinois, a print by Aveline from a series of five Chinese subjects, P. Jean-Richard, op. cit., no. 198, illustrated. The vogue for Chinoiseries was immense at the beginning of the 18th Century; it was even described by the Goncourt brothers as trying to turn 'China into one of the regions of Rococo'. Boucher first came into contact with Chinoiseries when he made engravings of Figures chinoises, after Watteau, in 1731 for the Figures de différents Caractères. He later provided seven drawings for a suite of Figures chinoises and six for another of Chinoiseries, both engraved by Huquier, and six more drawings for a series of the same subject, engraved by Ingram. Saint Yves, speaking about Boucher's taste for Chinoiseries, complained that: 'Ceux qui s'intéressent à lui, craignent donc que l'étude habituelle du goût chinois, qui parait être la passion favorite de M. Boucher, n'altère enfin la grâce de ses contours. Il n'aurait plus la même douceur, s'il continuait à dessiner des figures de ce genre', A. Laing, François Boucher, exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and elsewhere, 1986, p. 202.
In the 1740s, Boucher was at the peak of his career and was submerged with commissions. It was therefore common practice for him to use his drawings more than once. A drawing of a Woman seen from behind sold in these Rooms, 4 July 1995, lot 133, was first drawn for an overdoor of L'Education de Cupide and later integrated in a tapestry design of La Toilette de Psyché also woven by the Manufacture de Beauvais. Eventually Demarteau engraved the design adding a hand. Similarly a drawing of A Girl lifting her Apron sold at Christie's, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 150, was first made for the picture La Belle Cuisinière of circa 1735 and re-used in the print Des radis, des raves in the Cris de Paris series of 1737.
The seated Chinese girl eventually re-appeared in a decorative panel dated 1742 now in the Earl of Chichester's collection at Little Durnford Manor, Wiltshire, A. Laing, op. cit., p. 205, fig. 146.
The attribution of the drawing to Boucher has been kindly confirmed by Alastair Laing.
It was, however, not the first time that Boucher made use of this drawing. It had been engraved with numerous differences in reverse by Huquier in Le Carillon, one of a series of twelve prints entitled Scènes de la vie chinoise, possibly dating from around 1737, P. Jean-Richard, L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Paris, 1978, no. 1125, illustrated. The figure was re-used a few years later in Le concert chinois, a print by Aveline from a series of five Chinese subjects, P. Jean-Richard, op. cit., no. 198, illustrated. The vogue for Chinoiseries was immense at the beginning of the 18th Century; it was even described by the Goncourt brothers as trying to turn 'China into one of the regions of Rococo'. Boucher first came into contact with Chinoiseries when he made engravings of Figures chinoises, after Watteau, in 1731 for the Figures de différents Caractères. He later provided seven drawings for a suite of Figures chinoises and six for another of Chinoiseries, both engraved by Huquier, and six more drawings for a series of the same subject, engraved by Ingram. Saint Yves, speaking about Boucher's taste for Chinoiseries, complained that: 'Ceux qui s'intéressent à lui, craignent donc que l'étude habituelle du goût chinois, qui parait être la passion favorite de M. Boucher, n'altère enfin la grâce de ses contours. Il n'aurait plus la même douceur, s'il continuait à dessiner des figures de ce genre', A. Laing, François Boucher, exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and elsewhere, 1986, p. 202.
In the 1740s, Boucher was at the peak of his career and was submerged with commissions. It was therefore common practice for him to use his drawings more than once. A drawing of a Woman seen from behind sold in these Rooms, 4 July 1995, lot 133, was first drawn for an overdoor of L'Education de Cupide and later integrated in a tapestry design of La Toilette de Psyché also woven by the Manufacture de Beauvais. Eventually Demarteau engraved the design adding a hand. Similarly a drawing of A Girl lifting her Apron sold at Christie's, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 150, was first made for the picture La Belle Cuisinière of circa 1735 and re-used in the print Des radis, des raves in the Cris de Paris series of 1737.
The seated Chinese girl eventually re-appeared in a decorative panel dated 1742 now in the Earl of Chichester's collection at Little Durnford Manor, Wiltshire, A. Laing, op. cit., p. 205, fig. 146.
The attribution of the drawing to Boucher has been kindly confirmed by Alastair Laing.