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Lot Essay
Jean-Pierre Latz, ébéniste privilegié du Roi before 1741.
Jean-François Oeben, maître in 1761.
Although unstamped, this unusual table, with its beautifully drawn, naturalistic flowers and distinctive use of a green-stained burr-elm ground is most likely a collaboration of two of the most accomplished cabinet-makers of the Louis XV period, Jean-Pierre Latz and Jean-François Oeben.
Latz, who worked from the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, cast his own mounts in contravention of guild regulations and therefore pieces can often be attributed to him on the basis of the mounts he produced which were specific to his workshop. The distinctively pierced angle mounts on this table feature on other stamped works by Latz, including an occasional table sold from the collection of André Meyer, Christie’s, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 15, and a pair of occasional tables, formerly in the collections of the Frankfurt Rothschilds, Sydney Lamon and Habib Sabet, sold Christie’s, London, 12 December 2002, lot 110.
However, as Yannick Chastang has convincingly argued in an article on eighteenth century marqueteurs, it is clear that Oeben frequently supplied Latz with marquetry panels, either directly in the latter’s lifetime, or indirectly by completing unfinished pieces from Latz’s workshop following the latter’s death in 1754 (see Y. Chastang, ‘Louis Tessier’s Livre de Principes de Fleurs and the Eighteenth Century Marqueteur’, Furniture History, Vol. XLIII, 2007, pp. 115-126) . The most famous example of this is the so-called Latz-Oeben commode, supplied to the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe in 1756-7, with mounts clearly by Latz and marquetry panels by Oeben (sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie’s, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 20). The André Meyer table mentioned above also features marquetry to the top which is far closer in spirit to Oeben than Latz.
Oeben’s marquetry is characterized by a remarkably lifelike quality to his flowers (often based on Louis Tessier’s book of influential engravings Livre de Principes des Fleurs, published around 1755) and a greater use of darker woods to provide contrast between the leaves and the lighter flowers. His works also feature a distinctive use of burr veneers, as on this table (for instance on tables in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Getty Museum, illustrated in R. Stratmann-Döhler, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, pp. 96-7 and 119).
An almost identical table, also unstamped, is in the collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch in Drumlanrig Castle. Interestingly the Drumlanrig table has a velvet top, which could imply that it previously had a marble top which was subsequently damaged, thus suggesting that the marble top on the table offered here, although unusual on a marquetry table, could in fact be original (information kindly supplied by Yannick Chastang). It is also interesting to note with this respect a small writing table by Oeben which also features a marble top (sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 22 June 1987, lot 964).
Jean-François Oeben, maître in 1761.
Although unstamped, this unusual table, with its beautifully drawn, naturalistic flowers and distinctive use of a green-stained burr-elm ground is most likely a collaboration of two of the most accomplished cabinet-makers of the Louis XV period, Jean-Pierre Latz and Jean-François Oeben.
Latz, who worked from the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, cast his own mounts in contravention of guild regulations and therefore pieces can often be attributed to him on the basis of the mounts he produced which were specific to his workshop. The distinctively pierced angle mounts on this table feature on other stamped works by Latz, including an occasional table sold from the collection of André Meyer, Christie’s, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 15, and a pair of occasional tables, formerly in the collections of the Frankfurt Rothschilds, Sydney Lamon and Habib Sabet, sold Christie’s, London, 12 December 2002, lot 110.
However, as Yannick Chastang has convincingly argued in an article on eighteenth century marqueteurs, it is clear that Oeben frequently supplied Latz with marquetry panels, either directly in the latter’s lifetime, or indirectly by completing unfinished pieces from Latz’s workshop following the latter’s death in 1754 (see Y. Chastang, ‘Louis Tessier’s Livre de Principes de Fleurs and the Eighteenth Century Marqueteur’, Furniture History, Vol. XLIII, 2007, pp. 115-126) . The most famous example of this is the so-called Latz-Oeben commode, supplied to the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe in 1756-7, with mounts clearly by Latz and marquetry panels by Oeben (sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie’s, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 20). The André Meyer table mentioned above also features marquetry to the top which is far closer in spirit to Oeben than Latz.
Oeben’s marquetry is characterized by a remarkably lifelike quality to his flowers (often based on Louis Tessier’s book of influential engravings Livre de Principes des Fleurs, published around 1755) and a greater use of darker woods to provide contrast between the leaves and the lighter flowers. His works also feature a distinctive use of burr veneers, as on this table (for instance on tables in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Getty Museum, illustrated in R. Stratmann-Döhler, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, pp. 96-7 and 119).
An almost identical table, also unstamped, is in the collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch in Drumlanrig Castle. Interestingly the Drumlanrig table has a velvet top, which could imply that it previously had a marble top which was subsequently damaged, thus suggesting that the marble top on the table offered here, although unusual on a marquetry table, could in fact be original (information kindly supplied by Yannick Chastang). It is also interesting to note with this respect a small writing table by Oeben which also features a marble top (sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 22 June 1987, lot 964).