Lot Essay
These meubles d'appui can confidently be attributed to the ébéniste du Roi Adam Weisweiler, who was elected maître in 1778. In both form and decoration, they are very closely related to those stamped by Weisweiler in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, vol.II, London, 1996, pp.594-9, F393-4), which were commissioned by the banker Laborde for the Grand Salon of the château de Méréville circa 1785-7. Subsequently sold from the collection of Quintin Craufurd in Paris on 20 November 1820, they were in the collection of the 4th Marquess of Hertford by 1865. The Wallace meubles d'appui display the same distinctive plinth, with their 'dès de raccordement' or rosette-enriched blocks that join the toupie feet, inlaid tortoiseshell strips and acanthus-leaf cavetto cornice. Coincidentally, identical herm-caryatid mounts also appear on the sides of a further pair of meubles-d'appui in the Wallace Collection (op.cit., p.599-606, F395-6). These latter examples, also attributed to Adam Weisweiler by Peter Hughes, are mounted with pietra dure panels and were almost certainly supplied through the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre.
The distinctive caryatid mounts also appear on a secrétaire en cabinet attributed to Weisweiler in the Huntington Museum at San Marino (Robert R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, 1961, p.86-8), aswell as on a further example enriched with pietra dure plaques formerly with Dalva Brothers in New York (P.Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p.69). Moreover, the cornice mount of scrolled acanthus also features in the ébéniste's documented oeuvre, including;- the Sèvres porcelain-mounted secrétaire acquired by the Empress Feodorovna of Russia from Daguerre in 1784 (anonymous sale, Christie's New York, 'The Arts of France', 21 October 1997, lot 256); the console from the Chester-Beatty collection (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Tours, 1989, p.401, pl.496); the commode in the collection of H.M. The Queen at Buckingham Palace, probably originally in the sale of Daguerre's stock in London in 1791; and the Rothschild commode.
ADAM WEISWEILER
Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maître in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. He worked closely with the marchand-merciers Julliot and Daguerre and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, but the luxury pieces, for which he is best known, were sold mostly through Daguerre. The latter, who counted the French, Neapolitan and Russian Royal families amongst his clientele, enjoyed particular favour in England under the patronage of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and even established a shop in 1788 in Piccadilly to supply the English nobility. Weisweiler remained active until 1809, and it was his long-standing association with Daguerre that enabled him to continue to work for the export trade during the Revolution, thus allowing him to avoid the bankruptcy that befell so many of his colleagues.
The distinctive caryatid mounts also appear on a secrétaire en cabinet attributed to Weisweiler in the Huntington Museum at San Marino (Robert R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, 1961, p.86-8), aswell as on a further example enriched with pietra dure plaques formerly with Dalva Brothers in New York (P.Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p.69). Moreover, the cornice mount of scrolled acanthus also features in the ébéniste's documented oeuvre, including;- the Sèvres porcelain-mounted secrétaire acquired by the Empress Feodorovna of Russia from Daguerre in 1784 (anonymous sale, Christie's New York, 'The Arts of France', 21 October 1997, lot 256); the console from the Chester-Beatty collection (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Tours, 1989, p.401, pl.496); the commode in the collection of H.M. The Queen at Buckingham Palace, probably originally in the sale of Daguerre's stock in London in 1791; and the Rothschild commode.
ADAM WEISWEILER
Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), an ébéniste of German origin, was elected maître in 1778 and established his atelier in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. He worked closely with the marchand-merciers Julliot and Daguerre and the ébénistes Riesener and Benneman, but the luxury pieces, for which he is best known, were sold mostly through Daguerre. The latter, who counted the French, Neapolitan and Russian Royal families amongst his clientele, enjoyed particular favour in England under the patronage of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and even established a shop in 1788 in Piccadilly to supply the English nobility. Weisweiler remained active until 1809, and it was his long-standing association with Daguerre that enabled him to continue to work for the export trade during the Revolution, thus allowing him to avoid the bankruptcy that befell so many of his colleagues.