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Lot Essay
Combining the costliest and most exotic materials this commode spectacularly displays mid-18th century ébénisterie and the ciseleur-doreur's art at its finest. While almost certainly conceived by a marchand-mercier, reflecting the desire for meubles de luxe in the full-blown rococo style, the commode can be firmly attributed to the ébéniste Jean Desforges, who is celebrated specifically for his magnificent commodes veneered in rare Chinese and Japanese lacquer.
THE DESFORGES DYNASTY OF EBENISTES
The grandfather of Jean Desforges, Michel, worked in the atelier of Pierre Gôle until the latter's death in 1685, and subsequently moved to the workshop of André-Charles Boulle (J. Guiffrey, Sentence et arrêt rendus contre André-Charles Boulle au profit de ses ouvriers, 1685, in Nouvelles annales de l'Art Français, 1881, p. 316). Based in the Grande Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, Desforges married in 1707 and had two sons, Robert, described as a marqueteur ébéniste and Michel II, who also became ébéniste. Michel II had numerous children including Jean, but also Jeanne, who was married to Guillaume Martin, the celebrated marchand peintre and Vernisseur du Roi. Martin and Jean Desforges almost certainly worked together on various items of lacquer furniture, with Martin over-painting some areas of the oriental lacquer to create a fuller design. Another member of his family with whom Desforges collaborated was his cousin, the ciseleur Guillaume, who also supplied bronzes to Jean-Pierre Latz.
Jean Desforges' life and oeuvre are discussed by Calin Demetrescu, 'D.F. un ébéniste identifyé', in L'Estampille-L'Objet d'Art, October, 1992, pp. 64-81.
DESFORGES'S LACQUER FURNITURE
A direct contemporary of Bernard II van Risen Burgh (BVRB), Desforges's oeuvre displays many similarities with BVRB's most sophisticated pieces, and particularly with his pieces of lacquer furniture supplied to the Royal family in the mid-1740s. Both ébénistes collaborated closely with both Hébert and Duvaux, who would supply the oriental lacquer and the sculptural mounts. Jean Desforges's furniture consisted virtually exclusively of two-drawer commodes decorated sans traverse with floral marquetry or oriental lacquer and he does not seem to have executed other furniture types. The construction of his commodes is beautifully crafted and finished and the back boards were often panelled and chamfered. The sumptuous lacquer panels were framed by large and exceptional bronze mounts, beautifully chased and richly-gilded.
Based on an examination of his mounts and the arrangement of the façades of his commodes, D.F.'s oeuvre can be divided into consecutive groups, with the first, described by Calin Demetrescu 'commode à structure portante', dated circa 1730-1740. This early part of his oeuvre is best represented by a commode of circa 1730-35 now at Versailles (T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XVIIIième Siècle, Paris, 1999, p. 65, fig. 51) as well as another, similarly impressive example in the Museum Jacquemart-André. They can be identified by a central panel of lacquer covering the drawer fronts, framed in a border of kingwood and off-set by spectacular and quite substantial angle mounts that extend to similarly-cast sabots and bear a ciselure of superb quality, that can be compared to those by Latz, Gaudreau and Cressent, and were probably supplied by Desforges' nephew Guillaume. These commodes relate to the sumptuous group of lacquer furniture by BVRB and Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus acquired circa 1730-33 in Paris by Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria for the Residenz in Munich (B. Langer, Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol. I, Munich, 1995, pp. 88-102).
The second group of commodes of circa 1735-50, called commodes à cadres, are much more delicate in appearance and finish, with a thin meandering framing mount around a lacquer or marquetry tableau. The most prominent mounts on these commodes are a characteristic double C-scroll mount to the apron and a flowering, multiple C-scroll mount to the angles. These are often stamped with the C couronné poinçon, the tax mark applied between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper. A fine example of this group is the Chinese red lacquer commode from the collection of the Duchesse de Richelieu (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français, Paris, 1989, p. 176).
Interestingly, the present commode can be dated just between these two distinct productions. The lacquer panel for the present commode was cut from a Chinese Paravent, of circa 1700-1730 (cf T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1999, pp.45) and Desforges hid the shape of the lacquer panel with an ormolu bronze frame. The shape remains rectangular, however, the black vernis surround - a development from the more Regence taste kingwood surrounds - allows a more fluent and almost invisible transition between the lacquer and the structure of the commode.
DESFORGES AND THE MARCHAND-MERCIERS
The recorded collaboration between Jean Desforges and a marchand-mercier is revealed by a commode, stamped 'DF' and now in the Museum Jacquemart-André in Paris, which bears the trade label of a shop named A la toison d'or, run by Leger Bertin. Next to business relations with his brother-in-law, Albert Pottier, who's inventory lists several pieces of lacquer furniture, Desforges almost certainly also work with Edme Calley, as well as his successor, Francois Darnaud. Calley and Darnault ran a luxury shop call Au Roy D'Espagne, situated on the Rue de la Monnoie, près le Pont-Neuf, à Paris. As the lacquer panels were very costly, they were usually supplied by marchand-mercier to the ébénistes. It was probably Calley who supplied a very important commission for Elector Karl Albrecht of Bavaria during the years 1730-1733. This group of commodes, with the debate about attribution of the commodes to a specific ébéniste still ongoing, is closely comparable to the present commode, particularly in the treatment of lacquer panels and mounts.
THE DESFORGES DYNASTY OF EBENISTES
The grandfather of Jean Desforges, Michel, worked in the atelier of Pierre Gôle until the latter's death in 1685, and subsequently moved to the workshop of André-Charles Boulle (J. Guiffrey, Sentence et arrêt rendus contre André-Charles Boulle au profit de ses ouvriers, 1685, in Nouvelles annales de l'Art Français, 1881, p. 316). Based in the Grande Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, Desforges married in 1707 and had two sons, Robert, described as a marqueteur ébéniste and Michel II, who also became ébéniste. Michel II had numerous children including Jean, but also Jeanne, who was married to Guillaume Martin, the celebrated marchand peintre and Vernisseur du Roi. Martin and Jean Desforges almost certainly worked together on various items of lacquer furniture, with Martin over-painting some areas of the oriental lacquer to create a fuller design. Another member of his family with whom Desforges collaborated was his cousin, the ciseleur Guillaume, who also supplied bronzes to Jean-Pierre Latz.
Jean Desforges' life and oeuvre are discussed by Calin Demetrescu, 'D.F. un ébéniste identifyé', in L'Estampille-L'Objet d'Art, October, 1992, pp. 64-81.
DESFORGES'S LACQUER FURNITURE
A direct contemporary of Bernard II van Risen Burgh (BVRB), Desforges's oeuvre displays many similarities with BVRB's most sophisticated pieces, and particularly with his pieces of lacquer furniture supplied to the Royal family in the mid-1740s. Both ébénistes collaborated closely with both Hébert and Duvaux, who would supply the oriental lacquer and the sculptural mounts. Jean Desforges's furniture consisted virtually exclusively of two-drawer commodes decorated sans traverse with floral marquetry or oriental lacquer and he does not seem to have executed other furniture types. The construction of his commodes is beautifully crafted and finished and the back boards were often panelled and chamfered. The sumptuous lacquer panels were framed by large and exceptional bronze mounts, beautifully chased and richly-gilded.
Based on an examination of his mounts and the arrangement of the façades of his commodes, D.F.'s oeuvre can be divided into consecutive groups, with the first, described by Calin Demetrescu 'commode à structure portante', dated circa 1730-1740. This early part of his oeuvre is best represented by a commode of circa 1730-35 now at Versailles (T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XVIIIième Siècle, Paris, 1999, p. 65, fig. 51) as well as another, similarly impressive example in the Museum Jacquemart-André. They can be identified by a central panel of lacquer covering the drawer fronts, framed in a border of kingwood and off-set by spectacular and quite substantial angle mounts that extend to similarly-cast sabots and bear a ciselure of superb quality, that can be compared to those by Latz, Gaudreau and Cressent, and were probably supplied by Desforges' nephew Guillaume. These commodes relate to the sumptuous group of lacquer furniture by BVRB and Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus acquired circa 1730-33 in Paris by Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria for the Residenz in Munich (B. Langer, Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol. I, Munich, 1995, pp. 88-102).
The second group of commodes of circa 1735-50, called commodes à cadres, are much more delicate in appearance and finish, with a thin meandering framing mount around a lacquer or marquetry tableau. The most prominent mounts on these commodes are a characteristic double C-scroll mount to the apron and a flowering, multiple C-scroll mount to the angles. These are often stamped with the C couronné poinçon, the tax mark applied between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper. A fine example of this group is the Chinese red lacquer commode from the collection of the Duchesse de Richelieu (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français, Paris, 1989, p. 176).
Interestingly, the present commode can be dated just between these two distinct productions. The lacquer panel for the present commode was cut from a Chinese Paravent, of circa 1700-1730 (cf T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1999, pp.45) and Desforges hid the shape of the lacquer panel with an ormolu bronze frame. The shape remains rectangular, however, the black vernis surround - a development from the more Regence taste kingwood surrounds - allows a more fluent and almost invisible transition between the lacquer and the structure of the commode.
DESFORGES AND THE MARCHAND-MERCIERS
The recorded collaboration between Jean Desforges and a marchand-mercier is revealed by a commode, stamped 'DF' and now in the Museum Jacquemart-André in Paris, which bears the trade label of a shop named A la toison d'or, run by Leger Bertin. Next to business relations with his brother-in-law, Albert Pottier, who's inventory lists several pieces of lacquer furniture, Desforges almost certainly also work with Edme Calley, as well as his successor, Francois Darnaud. Calley and Darnault ran a luxury shop call Au Roy D'Espagne, situated on the Rue de la Monnoie, près le Pont-Neuf, à Paris. As the lacquer panels were very costly, they were usually supplied by marchand-mercier to the ébénistes. It was probably Calley who supplied a very important commission for Elector Karl Albrecht of Bavaria during the years 1730-1733. This group of commodes, with the debate about attribution of the commodes to a specific ébéniste still ongoing, is closely comparable to the present commode, particularly in the treatment of lacquer panels and mounts.