Lot Essay
Of German origin, François Reizell (maître in 1764) started his career in the quartier des ébénistes before leaving the Faubourg Saint Antoine for the rue des Saintes-Pres. Interestingly, the young ébéniste Joseph Baumhauer, dit Joseph (d. 1772) - later to become one of the foremost ébénistes of the Louis XV period - is recorded as having worked in Reizell's atelier. The latter's atelier counted amongst his famed patrons, Louis Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Condé (1736-1818) for whom Reizell produced a large number of pieces for the Palais-Bourbon and the château de Chantilly.