.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Jean-François Dubut (d.1778), artisan Privilegié du Roi.
The robust form and bold ormolu mounts of the Wildenstein sécrétaire place it firmly in the oeuvre of Jean-François Dubut. A closely related secrétaire by Dubut, displaying the same curvaceous lines and combination of lacquer and bois de bout marquetry is discussed in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, no. 104. A further secrétaire by Dubut of this overall form, but veneered in tulipwood and amaranth as opposed to lacquer, was illustrated in Apollo, December 1964, whilst an unstamped example displaying both marquetry and lacquer was sold in the Lehmann sale, 11 June 1925.
The sculptural treatment of the ormolu mounts, as well as the use of bois de bout and lacquer, necessitated the involvement of a marchand-mercier. As Dubut himself was a marchand-ébéniste, it is certainly possible that he sub-contracted the ébénisterie to his confrères. It is interesting to note, therefore, the similarity of some of Dubut's oeuvre with that of Adrien-Faizelot Delorme. A broader and squatter secrétaire also stamped by Dubut, which may have formed the prototype for the Wildenstein model, is in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (Dmitrieva, French Art 15th-18th Century, Guide to the Collections in the Hermitage, n.d., Leningrad, p.70). This displays marquetry of a technique usually associated with both Delorme and B.V.R.B.. The use of richly contrasting stripey fruitwood veneers - as appears upon the surround of the fall-front to the Wildenstein sécretaire is characteristic of Delorme and can be seen on the interior of a table illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, fig.165, p.181, as well as on the legs of a table sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 120.
The robust form and bold ormolu mounts of the Wildenstein sécrétaire place it firmly in the oeuvre of Jean-François Dubut. A closely related secrétaire by Dubut, displaying the same curvaceous lines and combination of lacquer and bois de bout marquetry is discussed in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, no. 104. A further secrétaire by Dubut of this overall form, but veneered in tulipwood and amaranth as opposed to lacquer, was illustrated in Apollo, December 1964, whilst an unstamped example displaying both marquetry and lacquer was sold in the Lehmann sale, 11 June 1925.
The sculptural treatment of the ormolu mounts, as well as the use of bois de bout and lacquer, necessitated the involvement of a marchand-mercier. As Dubut himself was a marchand-ébéniste, it is certainly possible that he sub-contracted the ébénisterie to his confrères. It is interesting to note, therefore, the similarity of some of Dubut's oeuvre with that of Adrien-Faizelot Delorme. A broader and squatter secrétaire also stamped by Dubut, which may have formed the prototype for the Wildenstein model, is in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (Dmitrieva, French Art 15th-18th Century, Guide to the Collections in the Hermitage, n.d., Leningrad, p.70). This displays marquetry of a technique usually associated with both Delorme and B.V.R.B.. The use of richly contrasting stripey fruitwood veneers - as appears upon the surround of the fall-front to the Wildenstein sécretaire is characteristic of Delorme and can be seen on the interior of a table illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, fig.165, p.181, as well as on the legs of a table sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 120.