ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN-BAPTISTE I TUART, MID-18TH CENTURY

This jewel-like commode, decorated in vernis martin with figures and pagodas within mountainous landscapes in imitation of Chinese lacquer, can be firmly attributed to Jean-Baptiste I Tuart, maître in 1741, probably retailed by Léonard Boudin. A closely related small marquetry commode stamped by Tuart, of identical elongated form and with the same sinuous encadrement to its two sans-traverse drawers, sold from the Collection of Nelle della Torre, Drouot Paris, 7 May 1914, lot 110. Tuart’s production of fine marquetry pieces is well-documented, supplying a number of commissions to the Menus-Plaisirs between 1744 and 1753, but he is also known to have produced pieces in lacquer and in vernis, such as the commode here offered (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIème Siècle, Paris, 2002, p. 890). Interestingly, a number of stamped furnishings by Tuart also bear the stamp of Léonard Boudin, who in his capacity as marchand-mercier would have commissioned pieces from Tuart and further embellished them with fine vernis martin in the latest taste for his fashionable Parisian clientele.