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Lot Essay
Pierre Roussel, maître in 1745.
This pair of encoignures is stamped by the celebrated ébéniste Pierre Roussel I (1723-1782). Cited by the 1769 Almanach de vray mérite as one of the foremost ébénistes of Paris, Roussel counted among his clientèle the Prince de Condé for whom he supplied furniture for the Palais Bourbon and the château de Chantilly.
Pierre Roussel concentrated mainly on pieces decorated with fine marquetry, for which he became particularly well known, and it has been theorized that large ateliers such as his could have employed their own in-house marqueteurs at a time when such panels were particularly fashionable (G. de Bellaigue, 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth-Century Marqueteur', Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240-250 and July 1965, pp. 356-363).
A nearly identical pair of encoignures with similar marquetry stamped Roussel was sold Sotheby's, New York, 25 May 2000, lot 376. It is also interesting to note that the ormolu swag and similar urn mounts also appear on several examples of encoignures by Nicholas Petit; one pair is illustrated in Nicolay's L'art et la Manière des Maîtres Ebénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, 1956, p. 363, fig. J and J., and another pair was exhibited at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, Grands Ebénistes et Menuisiers Parisiens du XVIII Siècle, December 1955 - February 1956, no. 244. pl. 20.
This pair of encoignures is stamped by the celebrated ébéniste Pierre Roussel I (1723-1782). Cited by the 1769 Almanach de vray mérite as one of the foremost ébénistes of Paris, Roussel counted among his clientèle the Prince de Condé for whom he supplied furniture for the Palais Bourbon and the château de Chantilly.
Pierre Roussel concentrated mainly on pieces decorated with fine marquetry, for which he became particularly well known, and it has been theorized that large ateliers such as his could have employed their own in-house marqueteurs at a time when such panels were particularly fashionable (G. de Bellaigue, 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth-Century Marqueteur', Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240-250 and July 1965, pp. 356-363).
A nearly identical pair of encoignures with similar marquetry stamped Roussel was sold Sotheby's, New York, 25 May 2000, lot 376. It is also interesting to note that the ormolu swag and similar urn mounts also appear on several examples of encoignures by Nicholas Petit; one pair is illustrated in Nicolay's L'art et la Manière des Maîtres Ebénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, 1956, p. 363, fig. J and J., and another pair was exhibited at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, Grands Ebénistes et Menuisiers Parisiens du XVIII Siècle, December 1955 - February 1956, no. 244. pl. 20.