Lot Essay
Jean-Jacques Pafrat, maître in 1785, died 1794
Jean-Jacques Pafrat is known to have worked under the celebrated ébéniste Martin Carlin (1730-1785) and to have completed a number of pieces of furniture by Carlin on the latter's death. The stamps of both ébénistes appear on a table à dejeuner in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (see: O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part I - Furniture, London, 1930, no. 44). This table was reputedly given in 1787 by Marie-Antoinette to Mrs. Eden, wife of the English diplomat William Eden, later Lord Auckland. Pafrat made use of a number of similar mounts to Carlin, in particular the drapery swag around the rim of the marble top on this commode.
Although Pafrat was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution, his career was brief as he died in 1794. His work is rare but a number of pieces are to be found in public collections. He supplied a secretaire with a commode en suite for the appartments of the Duc d'Orléans at the Château de Raincy, circa 1785. These were confiscated in 1793 and are now at Versailles (illustrated A. Pradère, op. cit.), p. 423, nos. 522 and 523). A pair of consoles by Pafrat formerly in the Rothschild Collection, Exbury, and now in the Niarchos Collection, Paris, show the similar use of white marble columns filled with chandelles below a similarly elaborate frieze and marble top with identical gallery. A secretaire in the Wallce Collection attributed to Carlin, displays very similar panels, pilaster and columns to the front (see: F. J. B. Watson, Catalogue, London, 1956, F. 309).
The figural plaques on either side of the frieze are taken from an as yet unidentified source. However, it is particularly interesting that both scenes appear on a compotier ovale painted by C. -N. Dodin in 1793 now at Harewood House, Yorkshire, from the service commissioned by Louis XVI for his personal use at Versailles, the most famous and expensive service of soft paste porcelain produced at Sèvres in the 18th century. The service was sold, half completed, by the Revolutionary Government in 1794, and the majority of pieces was purchased by George IV in 1811. For a further discussion of this service see: G. de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, The Louis XVI Service, Cambridge, 1986; details of the compotier (no. 186) are illustrated pp. 244-245). The original sources for these scenes may be the Sèvres biscuit medallions entitled Offrande à l'Hymen and Offrande à l'Amour, listed in the Sèvres archives in 1775 and 1783. Both were engraved by J.-J. Avril in 1802, presumably having been copied from the Sèvres medallions or from earlier prints
Jean-Jacques Pafrat is known to have worked under the celebrated ébéniste Martin Carlin (1730-1785) and to have completed a number of pieces of furniture by Carlin on the latter's death. The stamps of both ébénistes appear on a table à dejeuner in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (see: O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part I - Furniture, London, 1930, no. 44). This table was reputedly given in 1787 by Marie-Antoinette to Mrs. Eden, wife of the English diplomat William Eden, later Lord Auckland. Pafrat made use of a number of similar mounts to Carlin, in particular the drapery swag around the rim of the marble top on this commode.
Although Pafrat was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution, his career was brief as he died in 1794. His work is rare but a number of pieces are to be found in public collections. He supplied a secretaire with a commode en suite for the appartments of the Duc d'Orléans at the Château de Raincy, circa 1785. These were confiscated in 1793 and are now at Versailles (illustrated A. Pradère, op. cit.), p. 423, nos. 522 and 523). A pair of consoles by Pafrat formerly in the Rothschild Collection, Exbury, and now in the Niarchos Collection, Paris, show the similar use of white marble columns filled with chandelles below a similarly elaborate frieze and marble top with identical gallery. A secretaire in the Wallce Collection attributed to Carlin, displays very similar panels, pilaster and columns to the front (see: F. J. B. Watson, Catalogue, London, 1956, F. 309).
The figural plaques on either side of the frieze are taken from an as yet unidentified source. However, it is particularly interesting that both scenes appear on a compotier ovale painted by C. -N. Dodin in 1793 now at Harewood House, Yorkshire, from the service commissioned by Louis XVI for his personal use at Versailles, the most famous and expensive service of soft paste porcelain produced at Sèvres in the 18th century. The service was sold, half completed, by the Revolutionary Government in 1794, and the majority of pieces was purchased by George IV in 1811. For a further discussion of this service see: G. de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, The Louis XVI Service, Cambridge, 1986; details of the compotier (no. 186) are illustrated pp. 244-245). The original sources for these scenes may be the Sèvres biscuit medallions entitled Offrande à l'Hymen and Offrande à l'Amour, listed in the Sèvres archives in 1775 and 1783. Both were engraved by J.-J. Avril in 1802, presumably having been copied from the Sèvres medallions or from earlier prints