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Lot Essay
Adam Weisweiler, maître in 1778.
Although unstamped, this remarkable console, reproduced in Patricia Lemonnier's monograph on Adam Weisweiler, exhibits all the characteristic of the cabinetmaker's production, including the shape, the elaborate stretcher, the rich lacquer panels and the ormolu mounts. Weisweiler greatly contributed to the development of the console table and such pieces accounted for around one-sixth of his production. His consoles exhibit great variety of forms: rectangular and demilune, resting on four, six or even eight legs, usually joined by a stretchers or an undertier. Among Weisweiler's consoles, an almost identical one bears his stamp and further solidifies the attribution of this lot to one of the greatest cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century (see P. Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 79).
This stamped example shares numerous features with the present lot: the ebony veneer, the inlaid legs and their guilloche rings, the prominent central ormolu plaque, the ormolu ewer mounts, the identical feet and stretcher, which appears on some of Weisweiler’s most precious works, including lot 107 in this sale.
In perfect harmony with the rich ebony veneer and brilliant ormolu mounts, the Japanese lacquer panels decorating this console table doubtlessly rendered this piece particularly precious and desirable for collectors of the time. Weisweiler used precious Japanese lacquer in combination with ebony and gold for his most exclusive pieces, most often in collaboration with the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre.
The intricate stretcher also points to Daguerre’s influence. Also featured in lot 107 in this sale, stretchers of this type are a distinctive feature of Weisweiler’s oeuvre and correspond in form to a drawing attributed to Richard de Lalonde (fl. 1788-1806) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The drawing was one of ten provided by Daguerre to Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen and his wife, Maria-Christina. The highly finished character of these drawings suggests they were made as 'sales material' for Daguerre's clients rather than as working designs for an ébéniste (C. Dauterman and J. Parker, “The Porcelain Furniture,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, May 1960, p. 281, fig. 10). With its solid central roundel, the present stretcher was most likely designed to support a vase or ewer, such as those displayed on the tables by Weisweiler supplied by Dominique Daguerre to the comte Stroganoff in St. Petersburg and now in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (inv. no. CAM 242.2). A pair of ebony and Japanese lacquer console tables with similar stretcher by Weisweiler was sold Christie’s, 10 July 2014, lot 45 (£602,500). Always inventive and resourceful, Weisweiler is also known to have substituted Japanese lacquer with French tôle-peinte plaques imitating lacquer, as on a pair of small tables, sold from the collection of Sydell Miller, Christie’s, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 48 ($1,050,000).
In addition to the exotic lacquer decoration, the particularly richly-gilt central ormolu plaque further adds to the opulence of this table. Such plaques are often prominently featured on Weisweiler's works and were used to add visual balance. One of Weisweiler's secrétaires à abattant, fitted with an elaborate stretcher and mounted with an ormolu plaque representing the arts and sciences identical to the one found on this lot, is in the Wallace Collection (inv. no. F308).
MAELRONDT: THE NEW DAGUERRE
This console appeared in 1824 in the stock of the marchand-mercier Philippe-Claude Maëlrondt (d. 1824). Specializing in eighteenth-century furniture and porcelain, he played an important role in nineteenth-century society's renewed interest in the decorative arts of the Ancien Régime. Maëlrondt sold either period furniture, or copies of it, or creations inspired mainly by Louis XVI models. He employed a variety of craftsmen, but collaborated in particular with cabinet-maker Louis-François Bellangé (1759-1827) and his son Alexandre-Louis Bellangé (1799-1863). Like Weisweiler for Daguerre, the Bellangés executed the ideas Maëlrondt submitted to them. He developed close ties with an extremely broad clientele including in England, where he had several correspondents, notably Jarman and Robert Fogg. Through them, he supplied the English nobility and George IV, just Daguerre had a few decades earlier. George IV was particularly enamored with luxurious French furnishings and took advantage of the Revolutionary sales, where he acquired pieces of outstanding quality. Even during the Continental Blockade, he managed to commission pieces from the leading French craftsmen, including Thomire and Jacob-Desmalter. He had a particular fondness for furniture mounted with precious materials—porcelain, pietra dura and lacquer. Fortuitously, George IV began to renovate the private apartments at Windsor Castle in 1824 and the sale of Maëlrondt's stock could not have come at a better time.The sale of Maëlrondt's stock in Paris on 15 November 1824 was preceded by a catalogue distributed in Paris, London and Amsterdam. The catalog describes 410 lots, 45 of which were furniture that brought 55,469 francs, around one-third of the total sum achieved by the sale. Most of the furniture sold was from the Louis XVI period, but there were also a few pieces dating from the reign of Louis XIV, as well as some modern creations by Alexandre-Louis Bellangé. Jean-Henri Riesener, André-Charles Boulle and David Roentgen, among others, were represented in the auction. Interestingly, lacquered pieces only constituted about a quarter of the furniture stock, and yet fetched over 35,000 francs, more than half of the entire furniture section. Among the buyers was Sir Richard Long, who purchased a lacquer commode and a pair of encoignures by Baumhauer, formerly in the collection of the duchesse de Mazarin at her home on the quai Malaquais, for George IV. In Maëlrondt's sale lot 329 was listed as une grande console en ébène, ornée de petits panneaux en laque à dessin en saillie et d'un bas-relief en bronze doré représentant un sujet allégorique sur l'astronomie, les quatre pieds sont à cannelures, indiquées en étain, et enrichie de bronze doré. It was sold for 402 francs to an anonymous buyer. Despite the absence of dimensions, this description unequivocally identifies our console table. Other lacquer pieces in the sale included a secrétaire, a pair of encoignures and a commode en suite, which were purchased by prince Nicolas Davidoff and subsequently sold from the collection of Akram Ojjeh, Christie’s, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 35.
Although unstamped, this remarkable console, reproduced in Patricia Lemonnier's monograph on Adam Weisweiler, exhibits all the characteristic of the cabinetmaker's production, including the shape, the elaborate stretcher, the rich lacquer panels and the ormolu mounts. Weisweiler greatly contributed to the development of the console table and such pieces accounted for around one-sixth of his production. His consoles exhibit great variety of forms: rectangular and demilune, resting on four, six or even eight legs, usually joined by a stretchers or an undertier. Among Weisweiler's consoles, an almost identical one bears his stamp and further solidifies the attribution of this lot to one of the greatest cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century (see P. Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1983, p. 79).
This stamped example shares numerous features with the present lot: the ebony veneer, the inlaid legs and their guilloche rings, the prominent central ormolu plaque, the ormolu ewer mounts, the identical feet and stretcher, which appears on some of Weisweiler’s most precious works, including lot 107 in this sale.
In perfect harmony with the rich ebony veneer and brilliant ormolu mounts, the Japanese lacquer panels decorating this console table doubtlessly rendered this piece particularly precious and desirable for collectors of the time. Weisweiler used precious Japanese lacquer in combination with ebony and gold for his most exclusive pieces, most often in collaboration with the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre.
The intricate stretcher also points to Daguerre’s influence. Also featured in lot 107 in this sale, stretchers of this type are a distinctive feature of Weisweiler’s oeuvre and correspond in form to a drawing attributed to Richard de Lalonde (fl. 1788-1806) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The drawing was one of ten provided by Daguerre to Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen and his wife, Maria-Christina. The highly finished character of these drawings suggests they were made as 'sales material' for Daguerre's clients rather than as working designs for an ébéniste (C. Dauterman and J. Parker, “The Porcelain Furniture,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, May 1960, p. 281, fig. 10). With its solid central roundel, the present stretcher was most likely designed to support a vase or ewer, such as those displayed on the tables by Weisweiler supplied by Dominique Daguerre to the comte Stroganoff in St. Petersburg and now in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (inv. no. CAM 242.2). A pair of ebony and Japanese lacquer console tables with similar stretcher by Weisweiler was sold Christie’s, 10 July 2014, lot 45 (£602,500). Always inventive and resourceful, Weisweiler is also known to have substituted Japanese lacquer with French tôle-peinte plaques imitating lacquer, as on a pair of small tables, sold from the collection of Sydell Miller, Christie’s, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 48 ($1,050,000).
In addition to the exotic lacquer decoration, the particularly richly-gilt central ormolu plaque further adds to the opulence of this table. Such plaques are often prominently featured on Weisweiler's works and were used to add visual balance. One of Weisweiler's secrétaires à abattant, fitted with an elaborate stretcher and mounted with an ormolu plaque representing the arts and sciences identical to the one found on this lot, is in the Wallace Collection (inv. no. F308).
MAELRONDT: THE NEW DAGUERRE
This console appeared in 1824 in the stock of the marchand-mercier Philippe-Claude Maëlrondt (d. 1824). Specializing in eighteenth-century furniture and porcelain, he played an important role in nineteenth-century society's renewed interest in the decorative arts of the Ancien Régime. Maëlrondt sold either period furniture, or copies of it, or creations inspired mainly by Louis XVI models. He employed a variety of craftsmen, but collaborated in particular with cabinet-maker Louis-François Bellangé (1759-1827) and his son Alexandre-Louis Bellangé (1799-1863). Like Weisweiler for Daguerre, the Bellangés executed the ideas Maëlrondt submitted to them. He developed close ties with an extremely broad clientele including in England, where he had several correspondents, notably Jarman and Robert Fogg. Through them, he supplied the English nobility and George IV, just Daguerre had a few decades earlier. George IV was particularly enamored with luxurious French furnishings and took advantage of the Revolutionary sales, where he acquired pieces of outstanding quality. Even during the Continental Blockade, he managed to commission pieces from the leading French craftsmen, including Thomire and Jacob-Desmalter. He had a particular fondness for furniture mounted with precious materials—porcelain, pietra dura and lacquer. Fortuitously, George IV began to renovate the private apartments at Windsor Castle in 1824 and the sale of Maëlrondt's stock could not have come at a better time.The sale of Maëlrondt's stock in Paris on 15 November 1824 was preceded by a catalogue distributed in Paris, London and Amsterdam. The catalog describes 410 lots, 45 of which were furniture that brought 55,469 francs, around one-third of the total sum achieved by the sale. Most of the furniture sold was from the Louis XVI period, but there were also a few pieces dating from the reign of Louis XIV, as well as some modern creations by Alexandre-Louis Bellangé. Jean-Henri Riesener, André-Charles Boulle and David Roentgen, among others, were represented in the auction. Interestingly, lacquered pieces only constituted about a quarter of the furniture stock, and yet fetched over 35,000 francs, more than half of the entire furniture section. Among the buyers was Sir Richard Long, who purchased a lacquer commode and a pair of encoignures by Baumhauer, formerly in the collection of the duchesse de Mazarin at her home on the quai Malaquais, for George IV. In Maëlrondt's sale lot 329 was listed as une grande console en ébène, ornée de petits panneaux en laque à dessin en saillie et d'un bas-relief en bronze doré représentant un sujet allégorique sur l'astronomie, les quatre pieds sont à cannelures, indiquées en étain, et enrichie de bronze doré. It was sold for 402 francs to an anonymous buyer. Despite the absence of dimensions, this description unequivocally identifies our console table. Other lacquer pieces in the sale included a secrétaire, a pair of encoignures and a commode en suite, which were purchased by prince Nicolas Davidoff and subsequently sold from the collection of Akram Ojjeh, Christie’s, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 35.