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Lot Essay
These meubles d'appui are copies of the celebrated series of armoires created by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) after 1700, whose production was continued in the Boulle workshops during the first third of the 18th century (Alexandre Pradère, "Les Armoires à Médailles de l'Histoire de Louis XIV par Boulle et ses suiveurs", Revue de l'Art, no. 116, 1997, pp. 42-53). The prototype for the design was almost certainly a medal cabinet now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford which is fitted with vertical rows of drawers for the storage of medals. Fully packed with medals, the cabinet would have been extraordinarily heavy which necessitated the additional central foot. The concept of a medal cabinet was further illustrated by the use of medals, or casts of medals, as decorative devices on the front doors. In fact, these armoires were not frequently fitted with drawers for medals, and were made to serve a variety of purposes, most usually as bookcases.
This celebrated model enjoyed enduring popularity, both in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1760s such armoires were restored for resale by some Parisian ébénistes, who also made new versions in order to make a pair with an older cabinet, or to make a larger series of cabinets. The two ébénistes responsible for the restoration and replication of these armoires were Philippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800, maître 1766) and Jean-Louis Faizelot Delorme (maître 1763). The impetus for the neoclassical production of these armoires seems to have been the celebrated Parisian marchand-mercier Claude-François Julliot (1727-1794), the inventory of whose stock in 1777 lists many models of ornaments after Boulle, intended for bookcases, and specifically, eight ribbons in relief and nine medals, not chased which alludes to the present model.
Of the 18th century protoypes, ten are in French national collections coming largely from Revolutionary confiscation: three pairs are in the Palais de Versailles, one pair in the Palais de l'Elysée and the last in the Palais du quai d'Orsay. Their history can be traced through the 19th century when they furnished the Palais de Saint Cloud during the Empire and then the Palais des Tuileries until the end of the Second Empire. It was presumably from these latter examples that Sormani executed his copies.
Interestingly this pair, together with two 18th century pairs, were all originally in the same collection, having been acquired in Paris by Ogden Mills, who with his wife Ruth Livingston Mills, acquired exceptional French furniture for their Paris house on the rue de Varenne.
PAUL SORMANI
Italian by birth, Paul Sormani established his highly successful business at 10, rue Charlot in 1867. He exhibited at all of the major international exhibitions, with petits meubles de fantaisie, as well as fine quality versions in the Louis XV, XVI and Transitional styles. On Sormani's death in 1878 the business was taken over by his widow, Ursule-Marie-Philippine Bouvaist, and son, Paul-Charles, whereupon it became known as Veuve Paul Sormani & Fils.
This celebrated model enjoyed enduring popularity, both in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1760s such armoires were restored for resale by some Parisian ébénistes, who also made new versions in order to make a pair with an older cabinet, or to make a larger series of cabinets. The two ébénistes responsible for the restoration and replication of these armoires were Philippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800, maître 1766) and Jean-Louis Faizelot Delorme (maître 1763). The impetus for the neoclassical production of these armoires seems to have been the celebrated Parisian marchand-mercier Claude-François Julliot (1727-1794), the inventory of whose stock in 1777 lists many models of ornaments after Boulle, intended for bookcases, and specifically, eight ribbons in relief and nine medals, not chased which alludes to the present model.
Of the 18th century protoypes, ten are in French national collections coming largely from Revolutionary confiscation: three pairs are in the Palais de Versailles, one pair in the Palais de l'Elysée and the last in the Palais du quai d'Orsay. Their history can be traced through the 19th century when they furnished the Palais de Saint Cloud during the Empire and then the Palais des Tuileries until the end of the Second Empire. It was presumably from these latter examples that Sormani executed his copies.
Interestingly this pair, together with two 18th century pairs, were all originally in the same collection, having been acquired in Paris by Ogden Mills, who with his wife Ruth Livingston Mills, acquired exceptional French furniture for their Paris house on the rue de Varenne.
PAUL SORMANI
Italian by birth, Paul Sormani established his highly successful business at 10, rue Charlot in 1867. He exhibited at all of the major international exhibitions, with petits meubles de fantaisie, as well as fine quality versions in the Louis XV, XVI and Transitional styles. On Sormani's death in 1878 the business was taken over by his widow, Ursule-Marie-Philippine Bouvaist, and son, Paul-Charles, whereupon it became known as Veuve Paul Sormani & Fils.