Lot Essay
Jean-François Leleu, maître in 1764
Following his apprenticeship in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Jean-François Leleu entered the atelier of Jean-François Oeben, menuisier-ébéniste du Roi at the Arsenal. This commode, with its restrained bombé shape which pre-empts his later oeuvre in the Louis XVI style, was probably executed just after he left the Arsenal workshop in the late 1760s. He went on to gain several important commissions from the Comtesse Du Barry and the Prince de Condé, to whom he became official ébéniste between 1772 and 1777.
Following his apprenticeship in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Jean-François Leleu entered the atelier of Jean-François Oeben, menuisier-ébéniste du Roi at the Arsenal. This commode, with its restrained bombé shape which pre-empts his later oeuvre in the Louis XVI style, was probably executed just after he left the Arsenal workshop in the late 1760s. He went on to gain several important commissions from the Comtesse Du Barry and the Prince de Condé, to whom he became official ébéniste between 1772 and 1777.