ATTRIBUTED TO ETIENNE DOIRAT, CIRCA 1725

With their dynamic form, audacious outline and signature trellis parquetry, the present pair of petites commodes exemplify the oeuvre of the celebrated ébéniste Etienne Doirat (1675-1732). Doirat is known to be one of the few ébénistes of the Régence period to have occasionally stamped his pieces, given that stamping was not made compulsory by the Parisian guild of menuisiers-ébénistes until 1751 (J.-D. Augarde, 'Etienne Doirat, Menuisier en ébène', J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Vol. XIII, 1985, pp. 33-52). Although the pair of commodes here offered does not bear Doirat’s stamp, these are confidently attributable to the celebrated ébéniste on the basis of their idiosyncratic shape and the use of specific mounts recurrent on pieces stamped by him. The inventory drawn up following his death in 1732 and published by J.-D. Augarde in 1985 indeed reveals that Doirat kept exclusive control of his gilt-bronze mounts, not only retaining the chefs-modèles but also the unchased and the finished examples. It is therefore possible to attribute certain pieces on the basis of the mounts alone (ibid.) The addorsed female sphinx lockplates featured on the present commodes appear on several stamped examples by Doirat, amongst which a related commode, stamped both Doirat and Louis Simon Painsun (son in law with whom he collaborated); whilst the pierced shell-wrapped sabots can be found on other stamped pieces by the ébéniste.