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Lot Essay
Etienne Doirat, c. 1675-1732.
The 'C' couronné poinçon' was a tax mark used in France between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper.
Etienne Doirat, who was based in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, was the only important ébéniste of the Régence period to stamp his furniture. The majority of his work was executed either in trellis parquetry in rosewood, kingwood or amaranth . The inventory taken after his death in 1732 reveals an extensive workshop, with over 200 pieces in a wide range of forms, including 'encoignures', which must have been similar to those offered here. The inventory also reveals the existence of casts for gilt-bronzes in the workshop, indicating that Doirat exercised unique control over his bronze casts, and consequently certain mounts recur frequently in is oeuvre (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Paris, 1989, pp. 121-3).
It is rare to find corner cupboards complete with their shelves 'à gradins' like those offered here. A related encoignure à gradins with chinoiserie decoration in the Stieglitz Museum, St. Petersburg, is illustrated in D. Roche, Le Mobilier Français en Russie, Paris, n.d., vol. I, figs. V-VI.
The 'C' couronné poinçon' was a tax mark used in France between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper.
Etienne Doirat, who was based in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, was the only important ébéniste of the Régence period to stamp his furniture. The majority of his work was executed either in trellis parquetry in rosewood, kingwood or amaranth . The inventory taken after his death in 1732 reveals an extensive workshop, with over 200 pieces in a wide range of forms, including 'encoignures', which must have been similar to those offered here. The inventory also reveals the existence of casts for gilt-bronzes in the workshop, indicating that Doirat exercised unique control over his bronze casts, and consequently certain mounts recur frequently in is oeuvre (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Paris, 1989, pp. 121-3).
It is rare to find corner cupboards complete with their shelves 'à gradins' like those offered here. A related encoignure à gradins with chinoiserie decoration in the Stieglitz Museum, St. Petersburg, is illustrated in D. Roche, Le Mobilier Français en Russie, Paris, n.d., vol. I, figs. V-VI.