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Lot Essay
THE EARLIEST GOÛT GREC FURNITURE
With its 'Etruscan' decoration and interlaced Greek-key frieze, this bureau plat reflects the goût grec style introduced in the 1750s by the architect Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain. Probably working in collaboration with a marchand-mercier such as Simon-Philippe Poirier, Le Lorrain's goût grec style was first realised in the designs for the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the Parisian hôtel of the amateur Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully circa 1755, which included the bureau plat and cartonnier now in the musée Condé at Chantilly, as well as the set of four meubles d'appui including that sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 80.
Within a few years, this bold manner had gained wide popularity, and in 1763 Baron de Grimm was writing in Paris: 'tout se fait aujourd'hui la grecque' (ibid. p. 264). In the field of furniture, too, the style had spread outside the sphere of a rarefied group of avant-garde patrons and collectors. One of the earliest recorded examples of goût grec furniture produced in lighter woods and on a less alarming scale, concerns the purchase in the years 1763-1765 by George William, 6th Earl of Coventry, of a number of items from the famous marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier. In 1763 Coventry acquired the celebrated commode by Roger Vandercruse, called Lacroix (sold, Christie's New York, 2 November 2000, lot 264); in 1765 this was followed by a Bureau 'la grec fitted with deux tablettes qui se tirent sur les côtés', which has been likened to a desk by René Dubois (ibid. fig. 100).
GOÛT GREC WRITING TABLES BY RENE DUBOIS
This bureau plat relates to the well-documented group of bureaux à la grecque stamped by both Montigny and Dubois (for René Dubois, 1734-1809, who employed his father's stamp). Executed in either amaranth and tulipwood or in ebony, often displaying the same distinctive ormolu mounts and of very similar proportions and design, this group reflects the close collaboration that existed between these two ébénistes - a link further underlined by the fact that Montigny and Dubois were not only cousins, but that the former even acted as a witness at the wedding of the latter in 1772.
In view of the fact that 'une table de bois d'amaranthe à la grecque' was recorded in the inventory taken following the death of Jacques Dubois, while Montigny himself was not elected maître until 1766, it seems fair to conclude that it was Dubois who initially devised this model, but in the face of excessive demand, he in turn - acting in the capacity of a marchand-ébéniste - subcontracted to Montigny to supply him with bureaux of this form. This hypothesis is further supported by a number of pieces stamped by both ébénistes, both at Waddesdon Manor and in the Wallace Collection, as well as a 'bureaux à la grecque' sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 17 June 1988, lot 741 (only Montigny's stamp noted in the catalogue). The mention of 'bureaux plats à l'antique' in the 1772 inventory certainly confirms the long-standing popularity of this model.
The bureaux à la grecque executed by Montigny, including the Wildenstein bureau plat, tend to be characterised by their slightly larger size, and a unified veneer, such as that stamped by Montigny with abbreviated Greek-key decoration across the three frieze-drawers (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 306, fig. 344). A bureau plat almost identical to the offered example was sold anonymously at Christie's Paris, 23 June 2004, lot 80, whilst a further example was sold in the Lagerfeld Collection, Christie's Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 34. These both displayed a rosette mount between the frieze drawers. Other bureaux à la grecque by Montigny follow the same sense of design and outline, but have undecorated amaranth-veneered frieze-drawers, such as that sold anonymously, Christie's Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 110 (FFr 837,500), and another also sold anonymously, Sotheby's Monaco, 3 July 1993, lot 166. Others, however, have an ebonised surface with Greek-key ormolu mounts to the frieze-drawers, such as that in the Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris and another that sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 27 May 1999, lot 210.
With its 'Etruscan' decoration and interlaced Greek-key frieze, this bureau plat reflects the goût grec style introduced in the 1750s by the architect Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain. Probably working in collaboration with a marchand-mercier such as Simon-Philippe Poirier, Le Lorrain's goût grec style was first realised in the designs for the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the Parisian hôtel of the amateur Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully circa 1755, which included the bureau plat and cartonnier now in the musée Condé at Chantilly, as well as the set of four meubles d'appui including that sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 80.
Within a few years, this bold manner had gained wide popularity, and in 1763 Baron de Grimm was writing in Paris: 'tout se fait aujourd'hui la grecque' (ibid. p. 264). In the field of furniture, too, the style had spread outside the sphere of a rarefied group of avant-garde patrons and collectors. One of the earliest recorded examples of goût grec furniture produced in lighter woods and on a less alarming scale, concerns the purchase in the years 1763-1765 by George William, 6th Earl of Coventry, of a number of items from the famous marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier. In 1763 Coventry acquired the celebrated commode by Roger Vandercruse, called Lacroix (sold, Christie's New York, 2 November 2000, lot 264); in 1765 this was followed by a Bureau 'la grec fitted with deux tablettes qui se tirent sur les côtés', which has been likened to a desk by René Dubois (ibid. fig. 100).
GOÛT GREC WRITING TABLES BY RENE DUBOIS
This bureau plat relates to the well-documented group of bureaux à la grecque stamped by both Montigny and Dubois (for René Dubois, 1734-1809, who employed his father's stamp). Executed in either amaranth and tulipwood or in ebony, often displaying the same distinctive ormolu mounts and of very similar proportions and design, this group reflects the close collaboration that existed between these two ébénistes - a link further underlined by the fact that Montigny and Dubois were not only cousins, but that the former even acted as a witness at the wedding of the latter in 1772.
In view of the fact that 'une table de bois d'amaranthe à la grecque' was recorded in the inventory taken following the death of Jacques Dubois, while Montigny himself was not elected maître until 1766, it seems fair to conclude that it was Dubois who initially devised this model, but in the face of excessive demand, he in turn - acting in the capacity of a marchand-ébéniste - subcontracted to Montigny to supply him with bureaux of this form. This hypothesis is further supported by a number of pieces stamped by both ébénistes, both at Waddesdon Manor and in the Wallace Collection, as well as a 'bureaux à la grecque' sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 17 June 1988, lot 741 (only Montigny's stamp noted in the catalogue). The mention of 'bureaux plats à l'antique' in the 1772 inventory certainly confirms the long-standing popularity of this model.
The bureaux à la grecque executed by Montigny, including the Wildenstein bureau plat, tend to be characterised by their slightly larger size, and a unified veneer, such as that stamped by Montigny with abbreviated Greek-key decoration across the three frieze-drawers (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 306, fig. 344). A bureau plat almost identical to the offered example was sold anonymously at Christie's Paris, 23 June 2004, lot 80, whilst a further example was sold in the Lagerfeld Collection, Christie's Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 34. These both displayed a rosette mount between the frieze drawers. Other bureaux à la grecque by Montigny follow the same sense of design and outline, but have undecorated amaranth-veneered frieze-drawers, such as that sold anonymously, Christie's Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 110 (FFr 837,500), and another also sold anonymously, Sotheby's Monaco, 3 July 1993, lot 166. Others, however, have an ebonised surface with Greek-key ormolu mounts to the frieze-drawers, such as that in the Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris and another that sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 27 May 1999, lot 210.