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Lot Essay
Jean-François Oeben, maître in 1761.
Ouvrier libre in July 1749, when he married Françoise-Marguerite van der Cruse, the sister of Roger van der Cruse (R.V.L.C.), Oeben worked in the enclos priviligié de Saint-Antoine (R. Stratmann, 'Notices biographiques inidites sur la famille Oeben', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, March 1980, Vol. XCV, no. 1334, pp. 125-28). His reputation quickly grew beyond the faubourg. On 1 December 1751, he signed a contrat d'apprentissage with Charles-Joseph Boulle; in fact, already trained, Oeben rented part of the workshop and lodgings in the galerie du Louvre occupied by Charles-Joseph, one of the sons of André-Charles Boulle. From 1752, he delivered furniture through Lazare Duvaux to the marquise de Pompadour, who greatly admired his work. When Charles-Joseph Boulle died in October 1754, she must have intervened on Oeben's behalf in order to obtain for him the title of ébéniste du Roi and a lodging in the manufacture des Gobelins, which he was granted on 15 December 1754. Needing a larger workshop, he moved to the enclos de l'Arsenal in 1756.
Oeben is credited with the design of the distinctive cube parquetry patterns (F.J.B.Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, 1960, p.68). The design clearly characterises the goût grec of the late Louis XV period and features on the related commode by Oeben in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (n.72.DA.54) illustrated in R. Stratmann-Dühler, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, p.54.
Ouvrier libre in July 1749, when he married Françoise-Marguerite van der Cruse, the sister of Roger van der Cruse (R.V.L.C.), Oeben worked in the enclos priviligié de Saint-Antoine (R. Stratmann, 'Notices biographiques inidites sur la famille Oeben', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, March 1980, Vol. XCV, no. 1334, pp. 125-28). His reputation quickly grew beyond the faubourg. On 1 December 1751, he signed a contrat d'apprentissage with Charles-Joseph Boulle; in fact, already trained, Oeben rented part of the workshop and lodgings in the galerie du Louvre occupied by Charles-Joseph, one of the sons of André-Charles Boulle. From 1752, he delivered furniture through Lazare Duvaux to the marquise de Pompadour, who greatly admired his work. When Charles-Joseph Boulle died in October 1754, she must have intervened on Oeben's behalf in order to obtain for him the title of ébéniste du Roi and a lodging in the manufacture des Gobelins, which he was granted on 15 December 1754. Needing a larger workshop, he moved to the enclos de l'Arsenal in 1756.
Oeben is credited with the design of the distinctive cube parquetry patterns (F.J.B.Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, 1960, p.68). The design clearly characterises the goût grec of the late Louis XV period and features on the related commode by Oeben in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (n.72.DA.54) illustrated in R. Stratmann-Dühler, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, p.54.