A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE LACQUER AND EBONY MEUBLES D'APPUI

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This elegant and sumptuous set of three commodes, representing two forms for which no direct parallels are recorded, demonstrates the unceasing quest for the novel and unprecedented of patrons, marchands-merciers and ébénistes alike, where commissions of the highest level were concerned. The composition of the suite, one very large commode together with two somewhat smaller ones which are themselves of impressive size and presence, is extremely unusual. The shapes of the pieces and of the mounts employed on them appear to be unique. THE MARCHANDS-MERCIERS AND THE TASTE FOR ORIENTAL LACQUER The commodes were designed to display the large and beautiful panels of Japanese 17th-century lacquer that adorn their fronts and sides. Originally, these panels undoubtedly formed part of pieces of furniture. The narrower panels correspond to the doors of a standard Japanese cabinet, and the wider panel at the centre of the largest commode may have formed the back of such a cabinet, or have come from a chest; only until about 1670 did Japanese lacquer cabinets have decorated backs, following the example of the European marquetry writing cabinets on which they were modelled. Japanese cabinets were imported into Europe in large quantities during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Placed on stands, they formed tall elements in the decoration of a room. In the course of the 18th century, when case furniture was increasingly restricted to low pieces, corresponding with the height of the dado, such tall items of furniture went out of fashion. However, the superb quality of old Japanese lacquer continued to be highly prized. This led to many of the original pieces of furniture being cut up in order to obtain panels of lacquer that might be put to new and fashionable use. In this development, an essential role was played by the famous marchands-merciers of Paris. These privileged dealers not only sold a wide range of luxury goods, but were also constantly devising new inventions: unexpected types of objects, unusual combinations of materials, unprecedented models and forms. No furniture-maker would have had sufficient capital to acquire large and fine Japanese lacquer panels himself, but the marchands-merciers were forever buying Oriental porcelain, lacquer and other exotic goods, and they incorporated them in the works of art with which they seduced their clients. From the 1730s onwards, lacquer-mounted commodes were amongst the most costly goods provided by these dealers. An early group are the four commodes attributed to Antoine-Robert Gaudreaux (circa 1682-1746) and Bernard II van Risenburgh (after 1696-1766) that were delivered to Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria around 1730-1733 for the culminating rooms of the main apartment (the Reiche Zimmer) of the Residenz in Munich: the Parade Bedchamber and the adjoining Mirror Cabinet (B. Langer, Die Möbel der Residenz München, I, Die französischen Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich/New York 1995, pp. 88-102, nos. 14-17). The many changes of style notwithstanding, the taste for the glowing, beautifully designed and executed black and gold lacquer remained constant even into the Empire period, as is evinced by a pair of side cabinets by Jacob frères sold by the Marquess of Bath, Longleat, Christie's, London, 13 June 2002, Lot 330. DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTION Many of the distinctive elements of the commodes occur on both types: their relative shallowness; the uncompromising way the fronts have been designed in a single plane, relieved only by the slightly protruding angles; the gilt bronze feet and most of the other mounts. It may be assumed, therefore, that they were destined for a single space; indeed, most French 18th-century patrons appear to have concentrated their lacquer furniture in one richly decorated room (T. Wolvesperges, Le meuble français en laque au XVIIIe siècle, Brussels 2000, pp. 365 and 367). In this case, the room must have been of very generous proportions. The wide, fairly shallow shapes suggest that the commodes may have been conceived for a gallery, their marble tops providing suitable space for the display of bronzes and other sculpture, and leaving sufficient room for paintings to be hung above them. They may be compared with cabinets of similar proportions made by André-Charles Boulle and his followers, decorated with marquetry in brass and tortoiseshell and sometimes provided with glass doors for the display of works of art inside; these are known to have been used in galleries. Boulle himself probably delivered a series to the Prince de Condé for the gallery at the Château de Chantilly (A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris 1989, fig. 19; Jean-Pierre Samoyault, André-Charles Boulle et sa famille, Genève 1989, figs. 15 a and b). Towards the end of the century, a famous set of six was made by Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798) for the salle d'exposition of the well-known picture dealer, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun; one of these was sold from the collection of Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's, Monaco, 4 December 1993, Lot 89. Traditionally, Boulle marquetry was thought to combine particularly well with sculpture in marble and bronze and large paintings in gilded frames, whereas lacquer was deemed more suitable for private, intimate spaces; many lacquer commodes were put in bedrooms. However, the three offered commodes clearly represent an exceptional commission. Frustratingly, they have not yet been identified in an 18th-century sale catalogue or probate inventory which would reveal the name of their original owner. Distinctive though the design and the execution of the commodes are, it is difficult to firmly attribute them to a given maker. The uncompromising concentration on a restricted number of forceful elements, combined within a strictly rectangular shape, suggests the involvement of an architect in their design. As they were obviously made to the particular specifications of a demanding patron, a close participation in their genesis from his side may also be surmised. These factors make for highly individual works of art that do not easily compare with others. Remarkably, the commodes rest on feet that are entirely made of gilt bronze. This consciously evokes the work of Boulle himself; in the late 18th century, only a few prominent ébénistes, such as Pierre Garnier (c. 1720-1800), René Dubois (1734-1798), Philippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and Etienne Levasseur occasionally used this device (cf. illustrations in A. Pradère, op. Cit.). Not surprisingly, gilt bronze feet occur almost exclusively on pieces of furniture decorated with either Boulle marquetry or Japanese lacquer; doubtless, the black-and-gold decoration of Japanese lacquer led it to be associated, on visual grounds, with Boulle marquetry. The friezes of stiff leaves - again in the tradition of Boulle - the berried laurel bands, and the chandelles in the fluted pilasters occur in very similar form on furniture by makers such as Martin Carlin (c. 1730-1785), Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) and Guillaume Beneman (maître-ébéniste in 1785-1811), but again, their precise appearance on these pieces can not easily be paralleled elsewhere. The frieze is employed beautifully so as to suggest Corinthan capitals on the projecting pilasters. Most striking is the band of paired and linked scrolls forming heart shapes centred on husks, that runs down the centre of the two smaller commodes. Although a similar motif occurs in gilt bronze on pieces by Jean François Leleu (1729-1807) and Pierre Garnier, it is employed there at smaller scale and never in such a prominent position. This mount would appear to have been designed especially for these pieces, placing the commodes within the small number of grand and unique lacquer ones made to order for the most exacting patrons, such as that made by Joseph Baumhauer for the Marquis de Marigny in 1766 (A. Pradère, fig. 240), the one made by Carlin for Madame du Barry (idem, fig. 408) or the splendid example by Bernard II or III van Risenburgh sold Christie's London, by the Trustees of the 4th Duke of Westminster's settlement, 9 December 2004, lot 100). The employment of two upright lacquer panels for the decoration of the front of a commode left an empty space at the centre that required a bold, sculptural mount. On two celebrated lacquer commodes, one in the Cleveland Museum of Art and the other in the James A. Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor, René Dubois has adopted a similar device, albeit in a very different form (A. Pradère, op. cit. fig. 337). Among the ébénistes mentioned, the commodes show perhaps the greatest affinity with the work of Levasseur. Their severely rectilinear shape resembles his Boulle commode delivered in 1777 to the Comte d'Artois, and his pair of small lacquer commodes that was sold in 1777 from the Randon de Boisset collection (Pradère, figs. 356-357). It also calls to mind an unstamped Japanese lacquer secretaire and commode, sold at Palais Galliéra, Paris, 6 December 1972, lots K and L, that may equally be attributed to Levasseur. THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE COMTE HENRI DE BEAUMONT (LOTS 133-147)

A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE LACQUER AND EBONY MEUBLES D'APPUI

ATTRIBUTED TO ETIENNE LEVASSEUR, LATE 18TH CENTURY, THE LACQUER 17TH CENTURY

細節

A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE LACQUER AND EBONY MEUBLES D'APPUI
ATTRIBUTED TO ETIENNE LEVASSEUR, LATE 18TH CENTURY, THE LACQUER 17TH CENTURY
Each with rectangular inverted breakfront black marble top with moulded edge, above a frieze cast with acanthus and a pair of cupboard doors decorated with mountainous landscapes within a leaf-tip-cast border, the central divide mounted with confronting bands of scrolls filled with husks, the fluted angles with chandelles-filled flutes, the sides decorated with geese and exotic landscapes, above a plinth with fruited laurel edge and circular tapering and fluted ormolu feet headed by leaf-wrapped collars, one stamped 'DG' to underside, numbered in blue chalk '68' and '69', the marble tops probably replaced
33½ in. (85 cm.) high; 51¼ (130 cm.) wide; 16¾ in. (42,5 cm.) deep (2)

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品專文

Etienne Levasseur, maître in 1767.