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Lot Essay
Jacques Dubois, maître in 1742.
Although Dubois did not receive his maîtrise until the age of forty-eight, he was almost certainly employed in the atelier of his half-brother, Noël Gérard from the late 1720s, the latter acting as witness to his marriage in Paris in 1730. Established in the rue de Charenton, Dubois enjoyed the privileges of an ouvrier libre and was thus unfettered by the strict guild regulations endured by his fellow ébénistes. Although Dubois' career is thinly documented, he is known to have worked for the marchands-merciers Antoine-Nicolas-Joseph Bertin and Pierre II Migeon and this Louis XV commode, with its superb Chinese lacquer decoration lacquer, would almost certainly have been commissioned through the intervention of one of these fashionable dealers.
Although Dubois was already supplying furniture with Oriental lacquer and vernis Martin decoration from the late 1740s, the enduring popularity of his chinoiserie furniture is further confirmed by the 1763 inventory. Amongst the numerous examples of furniture de la Chine and du Japon was a bureau de vernis de la Chine garni de bronze, 220 l. The distinctive red-painted interior to the legs is something of a leitmotif in Dubois's ouevre, and recurs for instance on a lacquer bureau attributed to Dubois, sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 45.
Although Dubois did not receive his maîtrise until the age of forty-eight, he was almost certainly employed in the atelier of his half-brother, Noël Gérard from the late 1720s, the latter acting as witness to his marriage in Paris in 1730. Established in the rue de Charenton, Dubois enjoyed the privileges of an ouvrier libre and was thus unfettered by the strict guild regulations endured by his fellow ébénistes. Although Dubois' career is thinly documented, he is known to have worked for the marchands-merciers Antoine-Nicolas-Joseph Bertin and Pierre II Migeon and this Louis XV commode, with its superb Chinese lacquer decoration lacquer, would almost certainly have been commissioned through the intervention of one of these fashionable dealers.
Although Dubois was already supplying furniture with Oriental lacquer and vernis Martin decoration from the late 1740s, the enduring popularity of his chinoiserie furniture is further confirmed by the 1763 inventory. Amongst the numerous examples of furniture de la Chine and du Japon was a bureau de vernis de la Chine garni de bronze, 220 l. The distinctive red-painted interior to the legs is something of a leitmotif in Dubois's ouevre, and recurs for instance on a lacquer bureau attributed to Dubois, sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 45.