CIRCA 1785, ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGES JACOB OR JEAN-BAPTISTE SENE

Details

A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI WHITE-PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT CONSOLE TABLES
CIRCA 1785, ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGES JACOB OR JEAN-BAPTISTE SENE
Each with a rectangular granito bigio verdognolo top with outset corners above a frieze carved with rose arabesques, each centered by a spread-winged eagle, the angles with Apollo masks, on fluted tapering legs part-filled with chandelles joined by an X-form stretcher carved with beading and piastres enclosing foliate-entwined rods, with a central fruiting foliate finial, on turned tapering feet, the reverse of the frieze painted in the Restauration period with stylized foliage, each stamped 'PALAIS DES TUILERIES' and further stamped 'TH' and with an oval enclosing a crown above three fleur-de-lys, one with stencilled black inventory number '16952' once, the other stencilled twice, each marked in blue pencil '17626' and in black ink '18056', the marbles each with printed paper label, one with number '2358' and the other with '2359'
34¾ in. (88.5 cm.) high; 52¾ in. (134 cm.) wide; 28¾ in. (73 cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

The Palais des Tuileries, where they were placed by 1830.
The Estate of the late C. Ledyard Blair, Blairsden, Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, sold Parke-Bernet house sale, 10 June 1950, lots 297 and 298.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Sale room notice

The Wildenstein tables are first categorically recorded in an inventory of the Tuileries palace in 1807, in the 2nd Salon of the state apartments, the salon dit des Princes:

- Une console en bois sculpté, doré, rechampé en gris, pieds tournés et cannelés avec traverse, un aigle dans la frise du milieu, têtes aux quatre coins, le dessus en marbre vert de mer. Hauteur 90 cm ; longueur 136cm ; largeur 77cm.
- Une console idem . (Archives Nationales, Paris, 02 675).

In the 1807 inventory, the physical numbering of furniture only started after the end of the state apartments, which is why the Wildenstein tables had no number at this time. In the following inventory of 1809 (Archives Nationals, 02 685), they are described in the same room, but the description mentions a dessus de marbre vert antique, instead of the vert de mer of 1807 and mentions a depth of 97cm, an obvious mistake.

In that they are not recorded in the Inventories of the Tuileries carried out in 1787-89, when the Queen had an apartment at the Tuileries, the Wildenstein tables must presumably have come from another Royal residence, introduced like so much of the furniture in circa 1790-2.

After the fall of the Empire, the consoles remained in the same room in the state apartments, called the salon de la Paix, where they are described in the 1816 inventory (Archives nationales, Paris, AJ 19 146) as nos 132-133 and again in the 1826 inventory, in one lot, n0137:

Deux consoles de bois sculpté et doré rechampé en gris, pieds tournés et cannelés avec traverses; dessus en marbre vert antique; hauteur 90 x longueur 136 x largeur 77cm2 000 F. " (Archives nationales, Paris, AJ 1 155).

That period of the end of the Restauration obviously marked a change of taste for the XVIIIth century and the pair of Louis XVI consoles soon became out of fashion. In 1828, they were removed from the Tuileries Palace and sent to the Garde-Meuble, where they are described under the number 16 932 corresponding to one of the stencilled marks:

16 932. Deux consoles bois doré pieds tournés etc. prix 4 F
Deux marbres vert antique, prix 350 chaque, les deux 700 F
Rentrée du château des Tuileries du 30 avril 1828 .

Feuilles de sortie :
19 mai 1828 : 16 932 deux marbres. Morillon - à utiliser "
27 septembre 128 : 16 932 deux consoles - perte au mobilier -rebut.
The decrease in price, from 2000 F to 4 F, between the Empire and 1828, is all the more striking since the marble tops were obviously the only item of value. While the consoles were considered as refuse and were put aside for eventual sale, the marble tops were reused on more modern pieces, two consoles carved with giltwood chimeres:

Deux consoles de bois doré pieds à chimères ailées, têtes de bronze et griffess, deux pilastres cannelés, socle carré évidé, frise à feuilles d'ornement, ceinture à fleurs et boutond de lys; dessus de marbre vert antique ; longueur 137 x largeur 78cm (Arch nat AJ 19 /169).

The current rare granito bigio verdognolo tops therefore date from post-1828 - although they are certainly consistent with the taste of the Garde-Meuble Impérial under Napoleon. They were probably changed at the accession of Louis Philippe when they were moved to a different location in the Tuileries.

The Wildenstein tables are apparently en suite with a further pair sold from the collection of His Grace The Duke of Sutherland, Stafford House, London, Knight, Frank and Rutley, 14-15 July 1913, lot 57 (illustrated below). Described as 'A PAIR OF PAINTED AND GILT SIDE TABLES, carved with amorini, masks, eagles and flowers, on fluted supports and X-shaped stretchers, 4 ft. 3in. wide'. The only apparent differences are threefold; the lack of the mention of any inventory numbers or stencils; the measurements (explained by the fact that the Sutherland tables did not have marble tops); and the presence of cherubs to the stretchers and a further border to surround an inset marble top on the Sutherland tables - which may well have been 1830's additions. The Sutherland tables are just visible in a circa 1895 photograph of the South-West Drawing Room of Stafford House, subsequently known as Lancaster House illustrated in James Yorke, Lancaster House London's Greatest Town House, London, 2001, pl.22, p.38.

In view of the stylistic similarities of all four of these tables to the documented pieces supplied to Marie-Antoinette for Saint-Cloud, it is particularly interesting to note that Lord Gower, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, who was Ambassador to France between 1790-92, is known to have bought other pieces of Royal furniture from Saint-Cloud. This included a pair of Louis XVI fauteuils originally supplied by Chatard and Séné for Queen Marie-Antoinette's Cabinet de Toilette in 1788. The Sutherland pair was sold in these Rooms, 17-18 May 1944, lot 35 (2,000 gns. to Charles Beatty), at which time they entered the Chester-Beatty Collection before ultimately being presented by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Interestingly the Saint-Cloud suite displays very closely related character of carving, with an ivy-trailed seat-rail and chandelles enriched fluted styles to the back that have plain capitals applied with rosettes and with egg-and-dart capitals.

Lot Essay

Georges Jacob, maître in 1765 or Jean-Baptiste Sené (1794-1803).

The marque au feu 'TH' accompanied by three fleur-de-lys within an oval was that employed at the Palais des Tuileries following the Restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy.

These magnificent tables - carved with scrolling rinceaux flowering motifs flanked by Apollo masks - were no doubt conceived as pier tables for a very grand Music Room with three window bays, probably leading on to a garden. The triumphal eagles emblematic of Juno that dominate the frieze are a motif extremely closely associated with Marie-Antoinette. It is a tantalising possibility, therefore, that the Wildenstein tables may have either formed part of the improvements commissioned by Queen Marie-Antoinette for the Palais de Tuileries circa 1785 - or alternatively they could equally have been brought to the Tuileries from another Royal residence such as Saint-Cloud.

MARIE-ANTOINETTE'S APPARTMENT IN THE TUILERIES.

In 1784, Marie-Antoinette expressed a desire to have an appartement in Paris. Naturally the château des Tuileries was chosen. Almost abandoned after Louis XV, it had been occupied for more than 60 years by Court pensioners. In order to accomodate Marie-Antoinette, the appartement of the marquise de Groslier first had to be emptied, and the layout of the rooms - which had undergone various changes and divisions through the years - had to be restored to their original plan.

Marie-Antoinette also expressed the desire to have a small appartement in the entresol above her main appartement, situated near the pavillon de Flore, on the river Seine. The favorite craftsmen of the Queen were chosen in order to furnish the rooms; Georges Jacob, Boulard and Foliot as menuisiers and Riesener for ébénisterie.

These furnishings and the remaining furniture at the Tuileries were supplemented by fresh orders from the Garde-Meuble and with existing pieces brought from the other Royal palaces. By 1790 Louis XVI appears to have realized that the Tuileries was to be their permanent residence and both he and Marie-Antoinette began ordering suitable permanent furnishings more in keeping with the palace's new role. For a further discussion of the Tuileries during this period see M. Battestin, 'La famille royale aux Tuileries et l'installation de mobilier', De Paris à Versailles, Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1989, pp. 65-69.

Napoleon moved to the Tuileries in 1800 and made it his principal residence, as did all of France's rulers until it was destroyed by fire in 1870. He refurbished it in typically opulent style, employing the court architects Percier and Fontaine, although much of the Louis XVI furniture remained there into the Restauration period, the Palace as a whole acting as a largescale Royal Depôt.

MARIE-ANTOINETTE AND SAINT-CLOUD

It is certainly a possibility that these tables could have been brought to the Trianon from Saint-Cloud. Marie-Antoinette had purchased the château de Saint-Cloud from the Orléans family on 19 February 1785 for summer retreats. The following year she engaged the architect Richard Mique to undertake an ambitious remodeling project. He created small, intimate apartments with the King's rooms overlooking the park, the Queen's rooms overlooking the cour d'honneur; in the Queen's appartements much of the furniture was painted white and gilded.

Surviving pieces from the Queen's rooms include the sumptuous black lacquer commode and matching secrétaire à abattant by Riesener now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. These were placed in the Queens cabinet-intérieur alongside a large suite of seat- furniture made by Sené.

Since Mique's rebuilding was not complete until 1788 the Queen was not able to enjoy many summers there. In October 1789 the Royal family was forced to make a hasty departure from Versailles and moved to the Tuileries - with some of their favourite posessions - where they remained virtual prisoners until August 1791. In 1792 Saint-Cloud became the property of the nation and the auctions of the contents ensued within two years.

JEAN-BAPTISTE SENE (1748-1803)

Jean-Baptiste Sené (1748-1803), along with Georges Jacob (maître in 1765) dominated the production of carved furniture and menuiserie in Paris during the last years of the ancien régime. Their principal clients were the King and the Queen and from 1785-1791 they provided seat-furniture, beds, consoles, folding stools, footstools, screens, etc. for Fontainebleau, the Tuileries, Versailles and particularly Saint-Cloud. Sené is known to have sub-contracted the carving of much of his Royal commisions to his favorite sculpteurs, Pierre Laurent, Nicolas Vallois and Alexandre Régnier and the gilding to Louis Chatard - who seems to have enjoyed a virtual monopoly on pieces destined for the Royal family.

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