F10|1|1|A late sixteenth-century Burgundian cabinet, restored in the mid-nineteenth century. The cornice, carved panels and standing figures are probably old, but the plinth and bun feet, panelled backs and side panels of both stages are nineteenth-century. The upper stage is decorated with three standing female figures, all supporting baskets of fruit. In the centre is Hecate, goddess of the Underworld, crowned with a crescent moon and encircled by a serpent. The drawer fronts of the lower stage are carved with trophies of arms and the doors with grinning masks and pairs of harpies (birdlike female monsters). The keyholes for the upper and lower sections are both concealed, the upper one by a sliding section of Hecate’s drapery, the lower one by the tongue of the grotesque mask on the plinth of the central term.
F16|1|1|This spectacular cabinet is attributed to André-Charles Boulle and can be dated to c.1670-75. Only four other similar cabinets are known to exist. A descendant of earlier ebony cabinets on stands, this piece is much more Baroque in character, with classical ornamentation, exuberant decoration and the sculptural effect provided by the prominent carved half-figures of Summer and Autumn. These caryatid terms echo those in the upper storey of the grand salon of Vaux-le-Vicomte and can be linked to a drawing by Charles Le Brun (1619-1690). The splendid floral wood marquetry dominates the decorative detail but Boulle is beginning to incorporate some elements of metal marquetry for which he was to become so famous, for example on the frieze drawer at the top and the framing around the cupboard door of the central section. The naturalistic depiction of flowers and insects in the wood marquetry reflects the growing interest in botany and gardens, and mirrors the fashion for Dutch still life flower paintings in the second half of the seventeenth century. Daffodils, peonies, narcissi, roses and honeysuckle can all be identified, along with two grasshoppers, a bee and a beetle which help enforce the illusion of the garden transported indoors.
The medal of Louis XIV at the front of the cabinet is by Jean Warin (1606-1672). Such cabinets were largely made to impress, but the central section might also have been used for the display of prized works of art. There appear to have been some small alterations in the nineteenth century, perhaps in the Beurdeley workshop in Paris from whom Sir Richard Wallace acquired the cabinet in 1872.
F17|1|1|This cabinet was made in France in about 1840, re-using panels of marquetry of c. 1690 made by a contemporary of Andre-Charles Boulle. The interior and drawers of the cabinet, with their plain ebony veneer and recessed brass drawer handles are of strongly early-nineteenth-century character.
The marquetry of the doors is very fine in execution and lively in conception, and must be influenced by the designs of Jean Berain (1640-1711); although it has not been matched with any engraving known today, insect-winged figures occur in several engravings after him.
It is likely that the doors were originally panels on a wardrobe, and would therefore have been seen from a different height: while the horn-blowing figures are meant to be seen at eye-level, the underside of the arches is extensively shown, suggesting that they should be above eye-level. The marquetry on the sides is consistent in style with that on the doors and may have come from the same wardrobe.
F18|1|1|Japanese lacquer was enormously prized in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This cabinet, one of a pair (with F19) is of a type that was exported from Japan to Europe by the Dutch East India Company, although they are of higher quality than most export lacquer. They were probably made in a workshop in the Imperial city of Kyoto. Both cabinets depict on their outer doors stylised views of Mount Fuji and its surrounding landscape. Although almost identical, the design is in reverse on each cabinet, so they balance one another when displayed as a pair. Some decorative elements of the exterior, such as the mountains, rocks and roofs of buildings, are raised in low relief, and the summit of Mount Fuji has applied silver leaf to represent snow.
There are ten drawers inside, each with a lacquer front. The spectacular lock-plates and other metal fittings on the cabinets themselves were made in Japan, but the feet were probably added in Paris.
F19|1|1|Japanese lacquer was enormously prized in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This cabinet, one of a pair (with F18) is of a type that was exported from Japan to Europe by the Dutch East India Company, although they are of higher quality than most export lacquer. They were probably made in a workshop in the Imperial city of Kyoto. Both cabinets depict on their outer doors stylised views of Mount Fuji and its surrounding landscape. Although almost identical, the design is in reverse on each cabinet, so they balance one another when displayed as a pair. Some decorative elements of the exterior, such as the mountains, rocks and roofs of buildings, are raised in low relief, and the summit of Mount Fuji has applied silver leaf to represent snow.
There are ten drawers inside, each with a lacquer front. The spectacular lock-plates and other metal fittings on the cabinets themselves were made in Japan, but the feet were probably added in Paris.
F20|1|1|Intended for storing medals, the front of this little cabinet is a hinged panel that drops down to reveal twelve drawers with brass handles, each one numbered consecutively from the top with engraved Roman numerals. The drop-front is veneered on the inside face with the marquetry pattern of the outside, but in contre-partie marquetry.
The attribution to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) is based on both the quality of the elaborate scrolling marquetry and the use of the same design on other securely attributed Boulle pieces.
Collecting medals and coins, both Antique and contemporary, was a fashionable activity in the first half of the eighteenth century. The term 'medal cabinet' normally suggests a much larger piece of furniture but ones of this size are known. It was clearly intended for use on a table top, since otherwise there is no support to stop the drop-front going beyond the horizontal position and straining its hinges.
F34|1|1|The 'chinoiserie' decoration of this piece is an example of the interest in the Orient and its luxury products that began during the reign of Louis XIV and continued throughout the eighteenth century. The simple shape may be influenced by the arch-lidded Japanese lacquer caskets of the seventeenth century (themselves partly based on European prototypes) and the marquetry decoration is a western attempt to imitate depictions on Oriental lacquer and porcelain. Perhaps rather incongruously the marquetry panel on the lid shows a chinoiserie fox-hunting scene by a pool, the water represented by mother-of-pearl. Other scenes on the casket also include mother-of-pearl representations of water but with more familiarly 'chinois' people and activities. It remains firmly a western object, however, and would not have been mistaken for anything imported from the Far East.
The style of the marquetry has led to the suggestion that it was made in one of the South German centres of Boulle marquetry, but the similarity between this and the marquetry top of a French writing table in the Wallace Collection (F58) proves otherwise. The table, and thus the casket, are now tentatively attributed to Bernard I van Risemburgh (c. 1660-1738), a cabinet-maker of Netherlandish origin who settled in Paris some time before 1696 and became a master cabinet-maker in the city.
F39|1|1|This chest-of-drawers (commode) is attributed to Nicholas Sageot (1666-1731, maitre 1706); similarities can be found with this and other pieces that are known to be by him.
Nicholas Sageot appears to have become active in the 1690s and is first recorded as working in the Grande rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1698. He worked as an ouvrier-libre (free worker) before being accepted into the guild of cabinet-makers. His production appears to have principally consisted of armoires, commodes and bureaux and he is best known for his Boulle marquetry-decorated furniture - he was one of Andre-Charles Boulle's (1642-1732) main competitors. A dealer as well as a cabinet-maker, Sageot appears to have sub-contracted some of his marquetry production, for example to the marqueteur Toussaint Devoye (active c. 1706-1748).
F39 was probably made in the early years of the eighteenth century, a date suggested by the slight curves beginning to emerge from an essentially rectilinear shape and by the pilaster-like legs, angled outwards like those of late seventeenth-century bureaux. It is highly decorated with panels of Boulle marquetry, very typical of work by Sageot. Much of this is clearly based on the works of Jean Berain (1640-1711), one of the most influential designers at the court of Louis XIV. The top panel of F39 is taken from an engraving by Berain representing the birth of Venus.
Other commodes are known which are very similar to F39. One, stamped by Sageot and of an almost identical model, was on the Paris art market in 2012. The marquetry on the sides of F39, on the sides of the legs and on the drawer fronts appears to be the contre-partie marquetry of that on the stamped commode, albeit with a different central motif on the sides and slightly wider panels on the drawers. The mounts on the feet are also very similar, if not identical. Based on the similarity of the form and decoration of this commode, an attribution to Sageot for F39 becomes more likely.
Two commodes sold in 2010 (Pelham Galleries and Sotheby's London, 5-7 October), both attributed to Sageot, shared identical marquetry tops which differ from F39 only in their central motif. This attests to the popularity of such decoration in the early eighteenth century and one must be wary of attributing all of these pieces to Sageot on the basis of the marqeutry alone, which might have been out-sourced. However, the Sotheby's commode also shared the same handles, corner mounts and feet mounts as F39.
All the examples above were made with red turtleshell background. The only commode that is known to be the exact twin to F39 in all respects, and with brown turtleshell marquetry, was the one with Perrin in Paris in 2008. This too was unstamped.
F40|1|1|Oak veneered with Boulle marquetry of brass and turtleshell. The case is surmounted by a gilt-bronze figure of Diana descending from her chariot and supported by four gilt-bronze does.
F42|1|1|Spring-driven clock mounted on a stand and a plinth. The gilt-bronze figures on the clock case represent the Four Continents.
F43|1|1|Perhaps 'Landing on grand Staircase', Dorchester House, 1842; Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, by 1870.
F44|1|1|This clock is veneered with première-partie Boulle marquetry but cannot be directly associated with clocks by Boulle. It is mounted with gilt bronze figures of Fame (on the top of the clock, recognisable from the trumpet she is holding, and the laurel wreath on her head), Prudence (on the left, with a serpent in her left hand) and Justice (holding a pair of scales). The inside of the back panel is also veneered with Boulle marquetry and is visible through the glass of the front. This clock is supported by a pedestal (F55, see below) which dates from around the same period, perhaps a little later, but was not originallly intended for this particular timepiece.
The clock movement has an eight-day, spring drvien going train and a count-wheel striking train, with a verge escapement and a silk pendulum suspension. The back plate of the movement is engraved Vidal a Paris, while the front is stamped with R (crowned). However, the clock has been fitted with at least three different movements and this one post-dates the 1898 Hertford House inventory, although it is eighteenth-century.
The première-partie Boulle marquetry pedestal on which it stands is not from the Boulle workshop although it too dates from the first quarter of the eighteenth century; it has undergone some subsequent restoration and nineteenth-century alterations, which may have included the addition of some extra gilt-bronze mounts such as the central mount and the lion-paw feet.
In the eighteenth century clocks such as this were often combined with pedestals.
F45|1|1|This coffer on stand is a pair to another in the Wallace Collection (F46). During conservation of this stand in 1997 it became evident that both were products of the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The back panels, lined with looking glass, appeared to be original to the stands and the drawer sides were thicker than would normally be expected on an eighteenth-century drawer. A nineteenth-century dating would explain the eclectic character of the mounts, some derived from Boulle, some from the Louis XV and early-neoclassical periods and others from the late-Louis XVI period. Boulle furniture was very popular with collectors in the 19th century in both France and England, both in its original 18th-century form and in reproductions and pastiches. When the 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired these coffers and stands from the sale of the collection of the 12th Earl of Pembroke in 1851 they were catalogued as being 'finest old boule', which suggests that by then they were considered to be 18th century.
F47|1|1|This is a pair to another coffer and stand in the Wallace Collection (F48).
They illustrate the continuing popularity of Boulle furniture in the nineteenth century in both France and England; they are catalogued as being of French manufacture but they were owned by the 2nd Marchioness of Hertford who lived in England and, like her son, was a great friend of the Prince of Wales. The construction of the pair reinforces their nineteenth-century provenance, as shown by the use of thin pinewood boards in oak frames for the tops of the stands and for the bottoms of the drawer compartments, the flush-fitting brass locks of both coffers and drawers, and the use of steel brackets at the tops of the legs. The vases are almost certainly nineteenth-century castings of a Louis XVI model, and the eclecticism of some of the other mounts attests to their nineteenth-century manufacture, with some deriving from Boulle models, others from other early eighteenth-century workshops and some being early nineteenth-century designs such as the crowns and cushions on the lids.
Although the construction appears to be French, the corner mounts on the stand are identical to ones found on a table by Thomas Parker in a British private collection, so there is some question as to where these caskets on stands were actually made. It would indeed be very early to find Boulle furniture being made in the Louis XIV taste in France at this time (1820s), whereas the taste for Boulle furniture was already fashionable at this date in Britain. One possibility may be that Parker had French craftsmen working for him.
We also do not know whether contemporaries viewed these coffers as being modern copies or 18th-century originals. In the will of the 2nd Marchioness of Hertford, dated 1831, she specifically left ‘two coffres [sic] of fine old Buhl’ to her eldest son, which appear to be these. The description seems extraordinary if they were really only ten years old and the question arises, had she been sold these pieces in the belief that they were by Boulle or at the very least that they were early eighteenth century? If so, this suggests a point had been reached where either collectors or dealers, or both, were being ‘duped’ by copies and reproductions.
F49|1|1|This superb inkstand was made in 1710 for the Paris Guild of Barber-Surgeons, whose motto and arms are incorporated within the elaborate marquetry design. Around the top edge are the names of twelve senior surgeons, including that of Georges Mareschal, who was surgeon to Louis XIV, the Regent and Louis XV. Phrases and symbols relating to medicine, including the serpents of Aesculapius, ancient god of medicine, appear on the outer edges.
The inkstand has been attributed tentatively to Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (c.1639-1715) since the marquetry seems to have been influenced by Jean Bérain (1637-1711), Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi, with whom Oppenordt seems to have had a professional link. Without actually deriving from a known Bérain engraving, the central recess is reminiscent of his engraved ceiling designs in which similar strapwork constructions run in diagonally from the corners. Somewhat similar strapwork motifs run inwards from the corners of the top of a writing-table in the Wallace Collection (F57) which is also tentatively attributed to Oppenordt.
F56|1|1|The console table is closely related to an engraved design of a table in Boulle's 'Nouveaux Deisseins', published after 1707 but probably engraved earlier. There are differences between this table and the engraving, with the latter showing cloven-hoof feet and not lion-paws, a female mask in the centre and not Bacchus, and rams' heads at the top of the legs instead of lions' heads but 18th-century sale catalogues make it clear that this model of table was made in several permutations, such as with rams' heads and hooves, lions' masks and feet, a female or a male mask on the front, a marquetry or marble top, and with two or three legs.
Some of the mounts on the table are found on other models of furniture securely attributed to Boulle, such as the lion-paw feet which are on the chests-of-drawers made for Louis XIV's bedroom at the Grand Trianon in 1708/9. The marquetry of the top has several figures in common with that on top of a side table in the Wallace Collection (F425). It has been suggested that both types of table were amongst the seven made by Boulle for the duchesse de Bourgogne at the Château de la Ménagerie, Versailles, in 1701, albeit those were of much smaller dimensions befitting the young duchess.
Such a table would be fitted against a wall, typically between two windows. The surface is of Boulle marquetry which makes it very delicate and less practical than a marble top, and marble tops were usually placed on console tables as the 18th century progressed.
F57|1|1|This rectangular writing-table has an oak carcase, veneered with première- and contre-partie Boulle marquetry of brass and turtleshell, and is fitted with seven walnut drawers. There are eight scrolling legs arranged in two sets of four, and gilt bronze mounts including male masks at the side crowned with oak leaves, with handles below.
The marquetry of the top shows Apollo with his lyre enthroned in the centre, flanked by candelabra, sphinxes, arabesques, satyrs, Cupids, winged insects and strapwork. The central part is taken from an engraving by Marie Daigremont after a design by Jean Bérain (1640-1711), Louis XIV's Dessinateur de la Chambre et Cabinet du Roi. This, and the fact that the shape of the legs is suggested in a design for a writing-table by Bérain in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, have led to the attribution of this writing-desk to Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (c. 1639-1711). The writing-table by Oppenordt in the Metropolitan Museum in New York made for Louis XIV's 'petit cabinet' (or private study) in 1685 shares the same outline as the top part of this writing-table, but the marquetry on this one and the lighter impression given by the knee-hole and the movement of the legs suggests a later date. There is a première-partie version of this table in the Royal Collection.
F59|1|1|This writing-table (or 'bureau plat') takes the same form as those designed by André-Charles Boulle which were so influential on furniture design in the first decades of the eighteenth century when this type of writing table became extremely fashionable. Here Bernard van Risen Burgh I (1660-1738) has veneered an oak carcase with ebony and première-partie Boulle marquetry and fitted sculptural gilt-bronze mounts at the corners, on either ends and on the drawers, in a manner similar to Boulle. However, neither the marquetry nor the mounts are models used by Boulle; instead they resemble very closely those used by van Risen Burgh on the writing-table attributed to him made in c. 1715 for the Elector of Bavaria, now in the Louvre, and it is on this basis that the Wallace table has been attributed to him. There is a 19th-century copy of the Elector's table in the Wallace Collection (F461) where it is possible to compare specifically the female heads on the legs of both tables and the birds in the marquetry of the drawer fronts.
Once owned by the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, this writing-table was not inherited by his son, the 4th Marquess but came back into the collection when the 4th Marquess bought it at the sale of the contents of his father’s property, St Dunstan’s Villa in London.
F61|1|1|This grand wardrobe is similar to another in the Wallace Collection (F62) . The main purpose of the piece was for display, but it was also fitted with shelves for storage purposes. The figurative, gilt-bronze mounts on the centre of the doors represent Apollo and Daphne and Apollo flaying Marsyas, mythological stories derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Boulle himself was a compulsive collector and owned a series of drawings after the Metamorphoses by Raphael, destroyed in his workshop fire of 1720. In a declaration of 1700 Boulle declared that he had nine wardrobes in his workshop, so it is likely that the production of such pieces was quite considerable.
This wardrobe was once in the collection of the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe House. The interior was lined with peach blossom silk and fitted with gilt-bronze brackets and hooks to hold the clothes of Queen Victoria when she visited in 1845, three years before the 4th Marquess purchased the wardrobe.
F62|1|1|This grand wardrobe is similar to another in the Wallace Collection (F61) . The main purpose of the piece was for display, but it was also fitted with shelves for storage purposes. The figurative, gilt-bronze mounts on the centre of the doors represent Apollo and Daphne and Apollo flaying Marsyas, mythological stories derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Boulle himself was a compulsive collector and owned a series of drawings after the Metamorphoses by Raphael, destroyed in his workshop fire of 1720.
In a declaration of 1700 Boulle declared that he had nine wardrobes in his workshop, so it is likely that the production of such pieces was quite considerable.
Many of the mounts are stamped with the 'crowned C' mark which was used on gilt-bronze sold in France between 1745-9 to denote the payment of a tax on copper. We do not know when it was acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford, but it is likely to have been in England as he kept the wardrobe in Hertford House.
Oak veneered with ebony and marquetry of brass and turtleshell. The gilt-bronze mounts on the doors show scenes after the Roman writer Ovid’s Metamorphoses: on the left, Apollo chasing Daphne, and on the right, Apollo watching the flaying of the satyr Marsyas.
F63|1|1|This wardrobe, or 'armoire', may be attributed to André-Charles Boulle and is probably an earlier version of his later armoires, such as F61 and F62 in the Wallace Collection. It has a number of gilt-bronze mounts of the same models as on these later wardrobes and on other Boulle furniture. It has, however, certainly undergone major alterations in the nineteenth century. The 4th Marquess bought the armoire in France in 1861 and a contemporary writer noted that the gilt-bronze heads on the door fronts were not original; the octagonal frames around the heads are probably also a nineteenth-century disposition. The marquetry panels on the sides also appear to have undergone alteration, and the walnut veneer on the backs of the doors must date from the nineteenth century. The interior shelves and racks that support them are probably also of the same period.
F70|1|1|Originally mounted with Chinese lacquer, this chest-of-drawers was delivered with its pair for the bedroom of Louis XV at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1755. The two were made by Nicolas-Jean Marchand, a cabinet-maker about whom not much is known. He appears to have been sub-contracted by Gilles Joubert, who was a cabinet-maker himself and who was the official supplier for the king. Joubert delivered the two chests-of-drawers at the same time as another pair, also mounted in Chinese lacquer, for the queen’s bedroom. One of these is also in the Wallace Collection (F88).
Although called a chest-of-drawers in English, the cupboard has doors that open to reveal an interior shelf rather than drawers. It is now veneered with rosewood on the outside, and satiné inside the doors. At some stage in the nineteenth century the lacquer has been taken off, maybe because it was damaged or perhaps because it was no longer considered as fashionable as rosewood, a veneer that was popular in England in the early nineteenth century.
F71|1|1|This filing cabinet was made in c. 1766-67 by Jean-Francois Leleu (1729-1807) but its appearance has been altered in the nineteenth century. Originally it was an open-fronted cabinet, somewhat lower than it is now, supported on a base with eight drawers at each side (and not on the front), on each of which were two Sèvres plaques. It was made to go en suite with a writing table, and it is most likely that the one that originally accompanied it is the Leleu table now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is mounted with Sèvres plaques also dating from 1765-6 and with the same decoration. In 1766 the dealer ('marchand mercier') Simon-Philippe Poirier ordered 70 plaques from the Sèvres manufactory, enough to complete the filing cabinet and the table. He would also have commissioned the gilt-bronze mounts and the clock case, the latter probably from Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis fils (c. 1730-83). The movement of the clock is dated 1765 and signed by Julien Le Roy (1686-1759), but it is likely that it was supplied by his son, Pierre Le Roy (1717-85).
The London dealer Edward Homes Baldock bought the filing cabinet in 1829 and subsequently carried out the various alterations which give it its current appearance. These included raising the filing cabinet by adding the plinths below the gilt-bronze consoles at the sides, adding the present doors on the front with their Sèvres porcelain trays and gilt-bronze ribbon mounts, and transferring the drawers from the sides to the front of the base. Such alterations would have been intended to attract a nineteenth-century buyer, many of whom were passionate about Sèvres porecelain.
F72|1|1|It is evident that this clock and filing cabinet have been altered, and it is the upper section which can be attributed to Charles Cressent, on the basis of its figurative mounts. In its original state the upper part would not have had doors but open shelves for papers. Such objects were designed to stand either on a cabinet as in this instance, or to be placed directly onto a writing table. This cabinet is both too high and is accessed incorrectly for an eighteenth–century model: it would have had doors on either side rather than the front. The object as a whole (upper and lower sections) had acquired its present appearance by 1848 when it was bought by the 4th Marquess of Hertford as a 'Beautiful China Cabinet'.
A clock of this design, surmounted by Diana the Huntress, and an accompanying writing–table were first recorded in Cressent's sale of 1757. This model proved popular and was probably made by him over at least a ten-year period from 1749–59.
The double– throw locks on both sections and the accomplished imitation of the Louis XV style on the lower part suggest that the latter was made in Paris.
The clock movement would originally have had a silk suspension; now it has a pendulum suspension which, with its Brocot adjustment, probably dates from the early nineteenth century, as do the replacement pallets of the escapement.
F74|1|1|This candlestick and its pair (F75) is based on a model of c. 1729 that is attributed to Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), and the bases may also be compared with the base of a silver candlestick shown in three different engraved views in Meissonnier's 'Oeuvre'. They are, however, nineteenth-century castings. This is indicated by the use of single castings, where eighteenth-century castings are made up of three castings: one for the stem and two for the base. Moreover, the use of the personal motto of Louis XIV, 'NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR' in the cartouches, on a Louis XV model is a historical solecism that implies a nineteenth-century origin.
F75|1|1|This candlestick and its pair (F75) is based on a model of c. 1729 that is attributed to Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), and the bases may also be compared with the base of a silver candlestick shown in three different engraved views in Meissonnier's 'Oeuvre'. They are, however, nineteenth-century castings. This is indicated by the use of single castings, where eighteenth-century castings are made up of three castings: one for the stem and two for the base. Moreover, the use of the personal motto of Louis XIV, 'NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR' in the cartouches, on a Louis XV model is a historical solecism that implies a nineteenth-century origin.
F82|1|1|An attribution on stylistic grounds of this filing cabinet ('serre-papiers') to Jean-Pierre Latz (c. 1691-1754) is confirmed by his stamp under the top of the plinth, 'I.P. LATZ'. It has traditionally been support by a cabinet in the Wallace Collection (F73), but the two pieces do not bear much resemblance to each other and do not appear to have been originally intended to be paired together. However, in the eighteenth century a serre-papiers like this would have stood on a cabinet in a similar manner, or may have been placed directly onto a writing table.
The sides of this filing cabinet are very representative of the floral marquetry produced by Latz at this period, with its mix of formalized and more realistic floral representation. The revival of floral marquetry began in the early 1740s, and Latz experimented with end-grain wood (usually kingwood) which is visible here; the flowers are more realistic than before but are still formalised and do not depict any botanically identifiable species. Some flowers have been stained in an attempt to introduce colour.
F85|1|1|This is one of the most excitingly 'rococo' pieces of furniture in the Wallace Collection. Not only its double-bowed bombe outline, but its elaborate and 'rocaille' gilt-bronze mounts suggest a date of between 1735-40 when the fashion for designs such as this was at its height. The female gilt-bronze mask in the centre is probably influenced by similarly costumed heads in engravings after Watteau.
It is now attributed to Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus (c.1682-1746) but it was earlier thought to be by Charles Cressent (1685-1768); it was catalogued as being among the 'Ouvrages de Sieur Cressent' in the posthumous sale of Monsieur de Selle in 1761. However, its oak carcase, kingwood veneer and exaggerated curves are very unlike other work by Cressent and more like that of Gaudreaus. Another commode by Gaudreaus in the Wallace Collection (F86) was designed by the Slodtz brothers, probably by Sébastien-Antoine Slodtz who worked for the department of Menus Plaisirs producing furniture and theatre designs. Several of the motifs on Slodtz designs can also be found on this commode, such as the rush or palm ornament, dragons and the volute feet. M. de Selle was, from 1731, intendant and contrôleur général of the Argenterie, Menus Plaisirs et Affaires de la Chambre du Roi, which must strengthen the possibility of Slodtz's involvement in the design.
The shape is known as a 'commode à la Régence' which differs from the earlier style of 'commode en tombeau' in having only two layers of drawers instead of three and by being raised higher off the ground. The delineation of the drawers has been suppressed and the effect of the mounts is to add further movement to the veneered surface.
At least seven 19th-century copies of this commode are known.
F86|1|1|Perhaps the finest and most important example of the Rococo style in the decorative arts in the Wallace Collection, this commode was delivered by Gaudreaus for Louis XV’s new bedchamber in April 1739. A design for the commode attributed to the sculptor Sébastien-Antoine Slodtz, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, reveals that the mounts were originally intended to be much more symmetrical. However, as executed by the master bronzier Caffiéri, they are wildly exuberant and seem to grow organically in every direction over the surface of the commode. Louis XV, as he lay dying in his bed, is said to have thought that in the flickering firelight, the mounts looked like the flames of hell. The commode was inherited by the King’s First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, the duc d’Aumont, who probably replaced the original red and grey marble top with this one of serpentine marble.
F87|1|1|This chest-of-drawers (commode) is probably an early work of Bernard van Risen Burgh II (known as BVRB, maitre before 1730). There are similarities between the gilt-bronze mounts and those found on other pieces of furniture attributed to BVRB, for example the matted gilt-bronze frames of the drawer fronts, overlaid in the corners with oval cartouches edged with shellwork. If it is by him, however, it must be a relatively early work made before he began stamping his furniture.
The general outline, the rectangular framing of the drawers, and the fact that the division between the drawers is only concealed within the central cartouche suggest a date of production of c. 1730.
F88|1|1|In September 1755 this commode was delivered to the Palace of Fontainebleau for use by the queen, Marie Leszcynska. It was one of a pair, and they were placed between the windows in her bedroom. They were testament to the queen’s interest in the Orient, which she expressed through a collection of Chinese porcelain and small lacquer objects and through ‘chinoiserie’ style subjects that she chose to paint. The commode is also testament to the skills of the cabinet-maker, Marchand, whose maker’s stamp is visible on the back, along with the inventory mark of the palace.
From the late 1730s it had become fashionable to re-use old pieces of Chinese or Japanese lacquer by cutting up screens or cabinets which had fallen out of fashion and veneering the lacquer onto new pieces of furniture. Such items were intended to evoke the exotic world of the Orient but they were also designed to work within a contemporary French interior, and the shape of this chest-of-drawers and the gilt-bronze mounts would have ensured that it fitted harmoniously into the rest of the décor of the queen’s bedroom.
F90|1|1|A spring–driven mantel clock (pendule de cheminée) with a scrolled, gilt–bronze case. The case sides have panels of pierced gilt bronze lined with modern pink silk.
The gilt-bronze decoration is in a pronounced rococo style, combining irregular scrolls and pierced ornament with asymmetry. The clock is also mounted with five characters from the Italian Comedy (Commedia dell’arte): on the top Harlequin, wearing a hat, mask and diaper-patterned costume; Mezzetin, wearing a wide, loose cap and ruff and holding his cloak in one hand; and Gilles, with a broad-brimmed hat on the back of his head. At the bottom of the clock, Lélio and the hunchbacked Punch complete the cast. The Italian Comedy was a very popular form of comedic theatre in France in the eighteenth century and, as well as being a source for the decorative arts such as on this clock, was a popular theme with artists like Antoine Watteau who often incorporated references to its characters in their paintings.
F92|1|1|The cabinetmaker Charles Cressent was frequently fined by the guild authorities on suspicion of casting furnishing bronzes (such as clock cases and fire-dogs), thereby transgressing his limits as an ébeniste (cabinetmaker). This clock was probably among works sold in 1749 when he organized a sale of his work and paintings to pay off his debts. The superb gilt-bronze case, with figures of Love Triumphing over Time, is certainly closer to sculpture than furniture – to which Cressent may have made a small concession with the oak carcase and Boulle marquetry on the sides.
F93|1|1|The model for this clock was listed in the 1715 inventory of Boulle’s workshop when, although unfinished, it was valued at the high figure of 2,500 livres. The clock movement is by Jean Jolly (1691-1748). The gilt-bronze figure of Venus rests her right foot on a spiral shell, which was probably cast from life, while Cupid with his bow and arrow stands beside her. Originally there would have been a garland of gilt-bronze flowers running down from the chaplet held by Venus to the flowers on the left-hand side. The clock face, decorated with flying putti, is of a type often used by Boulle.
F96|1|1|The Stollewerck Carillon Clock is a spring-driven musical mantel clock (pendule à musique), attributed to Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis the Elder. The carillon plays a different tune each hour from a total repertoire of 14 tunes and dates to around 1763. Molinier was the first to attribute Stollewerck Carillon Clock to Duplessis, comparing it to the wall-lights attributed to him in the Isaac de Camondo collection, which show a combination of leaves and berries similar to those on the sprays that flank the case of the clock. Its movement is by Pierre Daillé, and the carillon itself is the work of Michel Stollewerck. Stollewerck made elaborate astronomical movements such as that of the clock F98, but also conventional clock movements such as that of the wall clock F255.
In 2010, in order to avoid further wear and tear to the particularly complex and delicate carillon movement, a miniaturized sound system was installed inside the clock, enabling the tunes to be replaced with digital recordings. This innovative system, developed by sound engineer John Leonard and senior furniture conservator, Jurgen Huber, is activated by the clock’s ‘going train’ movement, and plays the original tunes of the musical clock, on the hour, every hour. The clock movement itself remains unaffected by the device but allows the visitors to enjoy the wonderfully evocative and arresting sound of the chimes whilst protecting the delicate mechanical musical movement for posterity.
F97|1|1|This musical clock dates from the early 1760s, and is a glorious confection of exuberant gilt bronze and rose pink silk. The case is flanked by sprays of flowers and leaves and, at the top, perched on a rocky outcrop, a beautifully modelled spaniel peers down as he uses his paws to retrieve a pheasant from beneath an oak branch. Resting on the corners of the base are musical instruments, such as a violin, a tambourine, a French horn and bagpipes, alongside some sheet music and a trumpet with a banner depicting the fleurs-de-lis of France. This may suggest that the clock was made for a member of the royal family. The naturalism achieved in the gilt bronze flowers, leaves, twigs and acorns is remarkable and the entire piece conjures up the early autumnal hunting season that played such a large part in the life of the court of Louis XV, who was reputed to have hunted six days a week. To cap it all, on the hour every hour the carillon plays one of 13 tunes, making a charming reminder of the passing of time.
The design of the case is attributed to Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis the Elder, one of the most exciting and talented designers of decorative art of his age.
F98|1|1|Probably made for Jean Paris de Monmartel (1690 1766), banker to the French court (and god-father of Madame de Pompadour), this extraordinary clock was shown in a portrait engraving of Monmartel in his grand cabinet at the Hôtel Mazarin in Paris published in 1772. The principal clock-face now shows Greenwich mean time and apparent solar time. From the central dial can be read the passage of the sun across the Zodiac, the age, longitude and phases of the moon, and the time anywhere in the northern hemisphere (a map of which is engraved on the revolving circular plate); the two lowest dials show the rising and setting of the sun (left) and moon (right). The clock case is constructed in three sections, supported on a base. Only the upper section, with the patinated figures of two putti stealing Father Time’s scythe on top and four putti at the bottom, between which there would once have been floral garlands, forms the original clock. The clock movement is by Michel Stollewerck (maitre 1746, d. 1768) to designs by Alexandre Fortier, a Parisian notary and inventor whose dates are not recorded.
F99|1|1|This corner cupboard reflects the taste for lacquer-mounted furniture that became fashionable in the 1740s and 1750s. Essentially an entirely French object, in both form and decoration, it incorporates a piece of eighteenth-century Chinese lacquer that was most probably taken from a screen. The overall effect is one of 'chinoiserie', in other words a piece of furniture that evoked the exotic world of the Orient but which was never anything other than French. The stunning and lavish gilt-bronze mounts, incorporating rococo curves that amplify the curved design of the cupboard and also a figurative mask of Bacchus, make this cupboard an interesting mix of stylistic elements.
There is no maker's stamp, but on the basis of similarities with other corner cupboards it may be compared to work by Jacques Dubois. It is likely that it would have been sold through a marchand mercier, or dealer; they often sold unstamped pieces by the best Parisian craftsmen, perhaps to prevent clients going direct to the maker.
F102|1|1|This desk is a slightly simplified version of the roll-top desk made for Louis XV by Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763) and Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) and delivered to Versailles in 1769. This one was supplied by Riesener to Pierre-Gaspard-Marie Grimod (1748-1809), comte d’Orsay, a member of a leading family of financiers and tax-farmers, only about a year after the king’s desk was delivered to Louis XV. It carries certain marquetry motifs that are also found on the king's desk, such as the attributes of Geometry and Astronomy on the back and the marquetry of the riches of the earth and of the sea, but also marquetry unique to this desk, such as the monogram 'ORS' in a medallion on each side, identifying the owner. Other elements may also refer to d’Orsay himself, for example the dove carrying a letter on the roll top may refer to his marriage in 1770 and the military trophies on the sides may refer to his commission as a captain of dragoons.
In 1768 d'Orsay bought the Hôtel de Chaulnes, later the Hôtel d'Orsay, in Paris, which he refurnished and filled with works of art. In 1787 he left France to live in Germany (his wife Marie-Anne was the daughter of the ruling prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg) and rented his house to William Beckford. Beckford later emerged as the owner of the Riesener desk, perhaps having bought it from the Garde-Meuble National who had confiscated it as a 'masterpiece' at the Hôtel d'Orsay in 1794.
F103|1|1|Fine examples of the way in which valuable porcelain was made even more fashionable in the eighteenth century by the application of gilt-bronze mounts, this pair of ewers (F103 and F104) comprises spectacular vases of Meissen porcelain that have been transformed into French-style decorative art. With their scrolled and pierced gilt-bronze rims, bases and handles, they would have fitted harmoniously into the interior of an elite Parisian house of the mid-eighteenth century when the rococo taste ruled supreme. The porcelain is decorated with applied white flowers - guelder roses – in low relief, except for four reserves which are framed by raised gilt borders and painted with scenes after Antoine Watteau. Painted decoration after Watteau was first used at the Meissen manufactory in 1738 and the factory later purchased engravings after the French artist to provide designs for its decorators.
Some of the gilt-bronze mounts, including the birds, are stamped with the ‘crowned C’ mark, which suggests that the mounted ewers were sold in Paris between 1745-9. The different character of the birds, however, is noticeable.
F104|1|1|Fine examples of the way in which valuable porcelain was made even more fashionable in the eighteenth century by the application of gilt-bronze mounts, this pair of ewers (F103 and F104) comprises spectacular vases of Meissen porcelain that have been transformed into French-style decorative art. With their scrolled and pierced gilt-bronze rims, bases and handles, they would have fitted harmoniously into the interior of an elite Parisian house of the mid-eighteenth century when the rococo taste ruled supreme. The porcelain is decorated with applied white flowers - guelder roses – in low relief, except for four reserves which are framed by raised gilt borders and painted with scenes after Antoine Watteau. Painted decoration after Watteau was first used at the Meissen manufactory in 1738 and the factory later purchased engravings after the French artist to provide designs for its decorators.
Some of the gilt-bronze mounts, including the birds, are stamped with the ‘crowned C’ mark, which suggests that the mounted ewers were sold in Paris between 1745-9. The different character of the birds, however, is noticeable.
F105|1|1|A pair with F106. These Chinese objects have been transformed into fashionable French decorative art by the addition of gilt-bronze mounts. The two ewers were originally baluster-shaped vases of celadon porcelain but once they had been imported into France and a luxury goods retailer had commissioned mounts for them they were turned into ornamental ewers suitable for displaying on a chimneypiece or on top of a chest-of-drawers in a Parisian interior. Oriental porcelain was highly prized by wealthy collectors in eighteenth-century France and retailers could enhance the value even more by adding mounts like this. In this instance we can date the addition of the mounts quite accurately, because they have been struck with the crowned C mark that was imposed on gilt bronze sold in France between 1745–9. The style of the mounts, cast and chased with naturalistically detailed flowers, buds, bulrushes, shells and weed, is entirely consistent with the date suggested by their marks.
F109|1|1|This inkstand is made of mahogany and is veneered with Japanese lacquer depicting landscapes and mountains in black, gold and silver, scattered in places with flakes of gold leaf, particularly in the skies. It is lined with three gilt-bronze compartments, one of which contains an inkwell and a sand box and the other two being intended for writing implements. There are more gilt-bronze mounts around the edges and forming the feet, all in the rococo style that was popular in the middle of the eighteenth century. An example of the type of fashionable luxury object sold by the Parisian marchands merciers, some of the mounts are stamped with the ‘crowned C’ mark which denotes that the piece was on sale in Paris between 1745-49, and there is no reason to suppose that it was not made at this date as well.
F110|1|1|The style and quality of this piece indicate that it must have been made in the workshop of Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763). The ram’s head mounts, the floral marquetry on the top, the geometric marquetry of intersecting circles and cubes on the front and sides, and the complex mechanical devices used to open the desk are all characteristic of his work. However the table was probably finished by Jean-François Leleu (1729-1807), one of Oeben’s apprentices, since his mark is incised beneath the lower front drawer.
A single lock opens all four drawers, an upper and lower drawer at the front and one on either side. To use the table as a desk, the panel on the top pushes back to reveal a writing surface, with silvered metal ink wells and a pen compartment to one side. When used as a toilet-table, this surface is lifted to reveal a mirror which can be rested against a stand to serves as a looking glass. There is also a compartment for cosmetics and other toilet items. The two side drawers are fully extendable and each contains a lidded box which can be pulled forward either side of the user seated in front of the table. All of these are lined with blue watered silk.
F111|1|1|This writing-table has in the past been attributed to François Lieutaud on the basis of a similar desk stamped with his mark at Waddesdon Manor, but more recent analysis finds that both are part of a series of desks probably made by Charles Cressent and connected by the gilt-bronze corner mounts of corseted female busts. They have the same construction characteristics as other furniture by Cressent and use the same veneers, with gilt-bronze mounts from his oeuvre such as the key-hole mounts and masks. It is likely that the 'FL' stamp on the Waddesdon desk can be explained by a sub-contracting relationship whereby Cressent provided furniture for Lieutaud to sell.
The style of this desk is very much on the borderline between the styles of André-Charles Boulle and Charles Cressent. It conforms to a type of writing-table with female heads at the corners created by Boulle, with heavy C-scrolls dividing the side drawer fronts from the central recess and key-hole mounts of a similar conception. The same is true of the masks of Bacchus on either end, which look to Boulle for their inspiration.
F112|1|1|Writing tables like this were originally developed by André-Charles Boulle but, as this example shows, their popularity continued well into the eighteenth century and generations of cabinet-makers continued to produce them, adapting the outline and decoration to suit the fashion of the day. Here Latz has introduced serpentine ends and flowing, organic gilt bronze mounts to update the 'look' and appeal to the contemporary rococo style in which he excelled.
The desk is attributed to Latz on the basis of similarities to other pieces of furniture by him, especially a writing table on the art market in 1990 with the same model of corner mounts, that was signed and dated by Latz in 1754.
The leather on the top has been replaced.
Latz was born in Cologne but, like many successful German cabinet-makers in the 18th century, he moved to Paris where he established a successful furniture workshop. Most of his clientele appear to have been foreign aristocrats and royalty, especially German. The largest collections of his furniture are to be found in Berlin and Dresden.
F113|1|1|The authorship of many of the Parisian gilt-bronze mounts that were added to oriental porcelain in the eighteenth century remains anonymous but the ones on this celadon vase are attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis, a highly talented designer and sculptor who was also a goldsmith and bronze founder. He worked as the 'directeur artistique' of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory between 1748 and 1774 where he designed new models of vases, tea wares and dinner services, and he also designed gilt-bronze mounts for the luxury goods retailer, Lazare Duvaux. The mounts on this vase are reminiscent of the volute-shaped feet and overlapping foliate scrolls found on some of his designs for Sèvres which can be seen on porcelain in the Wallace Collection. Lazare Duvaux was one of the most fashionable dealers and his account books show that he charged extremely high prices; in 1750 he sold two celadon vases mounted by Duplessis to the marquis de Voyer for the enormous sum of 3,000 livres.
F115|1|1|A pair with F116. The Chinese porcelain of these vases has been transformed by the addition of highly fashionable gilt-bronze mounts. No longer the lidded bowls they were originally intended to be, they have become pot-pourri vases, with pierced necks through which the pleasant odours of the fragrant petals could permeate and scent a room. They are examples of the kind of goods sold by Parisian marchands merciers, or luxury goods retailers, who sought to create novel and innovative items for their wealthy clientele to buy. What were once Oriental objects have become pieces of French decorative art that would have been highly valued for their exotic connotations and their contemporary style. The mounts on the vases incorporate shells and coral motifs which serve to underline the exotic nature of the porcelain, but also highlight the aquatic elements of the rococo style. Shells and naturalia were collected by art connoisseurs in the middle decades of the eighteenth century and these pot pourri vases would have been perfectly in harmony with the display of such a collection in a domestic interior.
F116|1|1|A pair to F115. The Chinese porcelain of these vases has been transformed by the addition of highly fashionable gilt-bronze mounts. No longer the lidded bowls they were originally intended to be, they have become pot-pourri vases, with pierced necks through which the pleasant odours of the fragrant petals could permeate and scent a room. They are examples of the kind of goods sold by Parisian marchands merciers, or luxury goods retailers, who sought to create novel and innovative items for their wealthy clientele to buy. What were once Oriental objects have become pieces of French decorative art that would have been highly valued for their exotic connotations and their contemporary style. The mounts on the vases incorporate shells and coral motifs which serve to underline the exotic nature of the porcelain, but also highlight the aquatic elements of the rococo style. Shells and naturalia were collected by art connoisseurs in the middle decades of the eighteenth century and these pot pourri vases would have been perfectly in harmony with the display of such a collection in a domestic interior.
F117|1|1|As well as being beautiful porcelain objects, these pot-pourri vases (F117 and F118) are further testament to the ingenuity of designers of luxury objects in Paris in the mid-eighteenth century. The bowls and covers are not complete ceramic vessels but have been cut down from two triple gourd vases, larger Chinese porcelain vases that date from the Kangxi period (1662-1722). Evidently imported and then cut in France, the porcelain has been mounted in highly fashionable gilt bronze which includes motifs of leaves and seed-pods, asymmetrical scrolls and bulrushes and which has transformed the Oriental vases into chic objects of Parisian decorative art. This fashion combined the luxury of Chinese porcelain with the taste for gilt bronze and was promoted by the marchands merciers, or luxury goods dealers, who sold these objects and who played an important role as leaders of taste. The makers of the gilt bronze remain anonymous but a number of pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain are known which have mounts of the design, which may indicate that they were made in the same workshop or that a dealer owned the master models and commissioned examples from different metal workers.
F118|1|1|As well as being beautiful porcelain objects, these pot-pourri vases (F117 and F118) are further testament to the ingenuity of designers of luxury objects in Paris in the mid-eighteenth century. The bowls and covers are not complete ceramic vessels but have been cut down from two triple gourd vases, larger Chinese porcelain vases that date from the Kangxi period (1662-1722). Evidently imported and then cut in France, the porcelain has been mounted in highly fashionable gilt bronze which includes motifs of leaves and seed-pods, asymmetrical scrolls and bulrushes and which has transformed the Oriental vases into chic objects of Parisian decorative art. This fashion combined the luxury of Chinese porcelain with the taste for gilt bronze and was promoted by the marchands merciers, or luxury goods dealers, who sold these objects and who played an important role as leaders of taste. The makers of the gilt bronze remain anonymous but a number of pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain are known which have mounts of the design, which may indicate that they were made in the same workshop or that a dealer owned the master models and commissioned examples from different metal workers.
F132|1|1|The design of these candelabra cleverly incorporates contrasts: between the dark, patinated bronze of the vase which was intended to evoke the Antique world of Greek and Roman bronzes, and the rich gilding of the applied figures and decoration; between the beautiful female bodies and the lascivious grinning faces of the satyrs; and between the solid, heavy bases and the fluid and dynamic arabesques of the candle branches. The quality of the modelling of the fauns illustrates the role played by sculptors in the production of French 18th-century gilt-bronze ornament. These candelabra underline the complexity of the manufacturing process, which involved a number of different skilled craftsmen and which also resulted in a large number of different elements which had to be soldered, bolted or pinned together to produce the finished product. Almost none of these joins are visible to the naked eye.
A pair with F133, they are attributed to François Rémond (1742-1812) on the basis of similarities between the candleholders and friezes with other works by the bronzier. Variations of this model are also known, of varying quality, which suggests that they were commissioned by a marchand mercier, most likely to have been Dominique Daguerre, perhaps from different bronzier workshops. A previous attribution to Pierre Gouthière is no longer tenable, but the comparison of the seated fauns with the figures on the serpentine vase, mounted in gilt-bronze by Gouthière for the duchesse de Mazarin for presentation to the duc d’Aumont (now in the Louvre, inv. no. OA5178), remains valid as a stylistic influence.
F142|1|1|One of a set of four five-light candelabra (F142-5). The patinated bronze female figures hold gilt-bronze cornucopiae bearing flaming torches, although the figures are two slightly differing models leaning in different directions. The upper candle branches are after a model produced by François Rémond (1747-1812) for pairs of three- and two-light wall-lights at Fontainebleau, but this does not mean that he was responsible for the entire production of this set, as he is known to have gilded candelabra of this description for which he only cast and chased the candle branches and candle holders. Two pairs of candelabra similar to these, now at Buckingham Palace, were at Carlton House which suggests that this model may have been commissioned by Dominique Daguerre, who worked on the decoration for George, Prince of Wales in the 1780s.
Another pair of candelabra in the Wallace Collection (F146-7) is of the same model as F142-5, but the figures are supported on pedestals of a different design. A number of candelabra with the same models of figures are known. The design, with the partially draped female figures holding cornucopiae against their hips, must derive from that of the twenty-four candle stands carved by Babel in 1769 for the Grande Galerie at Versailles and has been attributed to Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809).
F143|1|1|One of a set of four five-light candelabra (F142-5). The patinated bronze female figures hold gilt-bronze cornucopiae bearing flaming torches, although the figures are two slightly differing models leaning in different directions. The upper candle branches are after a model produced by François Rémond (1747-1812) for pairs of three- and two-light wall-lights at Fontainebleau, but this does not mean that he was responsible for the entire production of this set, as he is known to have gilded candelabra of this description for which he only cast and chased the candle branches and candle holders. Two pairs of candelabra similar to these, now at Buckingham Palace, were at Carlton House which suggests that this model may have been commissioned by Dominique Daguerre, who worked on the decoration for George, Prince of Wales in the 1780s.
Another pair of candelabra in the Wallace Collection (F146-7) is of the same model as F142-5, but the figures are supported on pedestals of a different design. A number of candelabra with the same models of figures are known. The design, with the partially draped female figures holding cornucopiae against their hips, must derive from that of the twenty-four candle stands carved by Babel in 1769 for the Grande Galerie at Versailles and has been attributed to Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809).
F178|1|1|This suite of furniture by René Dubois, perhaps the most magical group of furniture to survive as an ensemble in the Wallace Collection, is also one of the most important early examples of neoclassicism in France. The neo-classical style began to be seen in French art from around 1750 and was characterised by a regularity and balance in design and form and a references to the iconography of ancient Greece and Rome. The filing-cabinet you can see here is surmounted by a sensuous gilt-bronze group depicting the nymph Psyche embracing Cupid, and below are figures representing Peace and War. The filing section stands on a cabinet decorated with various gilt-bronze trophies, including a large trophy of arms on the front. The table (F330) is dominated by the sinuous gilt-bronze sirens placed at each corner, their tails intertwining with the table legs. The inkstand (F287) is decorated on either side with a ship’s prow, recalling the display of prows from conquered ships in the ancient Roman Forum. Although the filing-cabinet and the table are stamped twice ‘I DUBOIS’, the stamp of Jacques Dubois (1694-1763), because of their strongly neoclassical style they must have been made by his son, René Dubois (1737-1798), who became a master in 1755 and continued to use his father’s stamp. Other works by Dubois in the Wallace Collection are the remarkable commode veneered with Japanese lacquer (F245) and a small pair of corner cabinets (F100-101). The suite of green lacquer furniture may have been designed by the architect Charles de Wailly (1730-1798), as a design by him exists for a table with caryatid sirens at the top of the legs.
This group of furniture was almost certainly imported into Russia by Catherine the Great. It was given by her to her son, Grand Duke Paul, who presented it to Prince Alexander Kurakin, his friend from schooldays. Interestingly De Wailly is known to have had connections with Russia and in 1773 to have supplied Catherine the Great with designs for a pavilion. By the mid-nineteenth century a story had arisen that the Treaty of Tilsit, signed in 1807 on a raft in the river Nieman by the Emperors Napoleon I, Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia, had actually been signed on this table and using this inkstand, but this is morethan likely to be ficticious.
The 4th Marquess bought all three pieces of furniture from the London dealer, Frederick Davis, in June 1866. They are recorded in his apartment at 3 rue Taitbout, Paris, in 1871, and in Lady Wallace’s Boudoir in 1890 and 1898.
F245|1|1|Frustratingly, we do not know who this fabulous commode table was made for, although in the past it has been linked to both Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour. The extravagant mix of luxurious materials such as Japanese lacquer and gilt bronze suggest it was an important commission and certain elements of its design, such as the sirens mounted on the corners, point to the work of one of the foremost architects of the second half of the eighteenth century, Charles de Wailly. De Wailly was at the forefront of the early neo-classical movement in Paris, and was instrumental in bringing the goût-grec, or so-called Greek taste, into fashion. Here you can see the classically-inspired sirens, but also egg-and-dart moulding derived from ancient architecture, references to Hercules, including the lion pelt encircling the keyhole and the club-shaped legs, and allusions to the goddess of love, Venus, in the billing doves and gilt-bronze roses; love is further emphasised by Cupid’s bow and quiver, on which the doves are perched, pointing to a love or marriage theme behind the commission.
The commode table was intended to stand underneath a pier glass between two windows, and is a form more frequently found during the Louis XV period than in the subsequent reign. It has a single drawer and two side cupboards.
Lacquer wares were imported into Europe from China and Japan and pieces of lacquer were often incorporated into European furniture. Lacquer was extremely expensive and was reused in new, fashionable pieces of furniture. In consequence, pieces which originally belonged to different panels were sometimes jumbled together in a collage. On the drawer front of this commode table you can see that the lacquer is made up of small pieces which bear no relation to each other. The gilt-bronze fretwork cleverly hides the joins.
F246|1|1|On 28 December 1772 the cabinet-maker Jean-François Leleu (1729-1807) delivered this chest-of-drawers ('commode') to the prince de Condé at the Palais Bourbon, his Parisian town house. The prince had recently commissioned the architect Antoine-Mathieu Le Carpentier (1709-1773) to refurbish his house, and favoured the new neo-classical style that is reflected in this commode, perhaps designed by Le Carpentier.
By 1779 an inventory records it in the bedroom of the prince's daughter-in-law, the duchesse de Bourbon, which is the room for which it was probably intended. Here it stood under the pier glass opposite the chimney-piece, along with two other smaller chests-of-drawers by Leleu which were placed between the windows. On it stood four Sèvres vases, two of which were of the type known as 'vases à éléphants' (see C246-7 and C249-40 in the Wallace Collection), in a pink ground colour; on the walls were four Gobelins tapestries after Boucher illustrating the Loves of the Gods in oval medallions against crimson-pink grounds, and twelve armchairs and two bergères were upholstered in the same tapestry. This constituted the winter furniture, from which the room took its name of the 'pink bedchamber'. In summer the whole set of Gobelins was replaced with furnishings of silk taffeta.
The commode was originally much more colourful and highly decorated, in keeping with the room for which it was intended. The current mahogany veneer replaced the original marquetry finish which comprised an oval medallion stained blue and inlaid with a cypher (probably that of the duchesse de Bourbon), flanked by garlands of flowers and olive branches. On the corners the doors were veneered with marquetry bouquets of flowers, while the sides had a criss-cross marquetry mosaic enclosing fleurs-de-lis, echoing the fleurs-de-lis in the gilt-bronze mount around the frieze. The drawers were lined with blue silk mohair. It is thought that during or after the French Revolution the marquetry was taken off and plain mahogany veneers substituted, which was by then the more fashionable finish and did not reference any royal emblems. In 1793 the commode was noted by the Commission des Monuments as being of artistic interest, and by 1807 it was inventoried amongst the furnishings of Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, a lawyer and statesman of the Consulat and Empire.
F247|1|1|Marie-Antoinette had this chest-of-drawers in one of her private rooms at Versailles, where it harmonised beautifully with the other decoration in the room. When Riesener delivered it, he called it 'a new model', and it marked the beginning of a series of suites of furniture that he was to make for the queen. Here the gilt-bronze mounts are almost jewel-like in their exquisite form and detail, with perfectly-formed flowers flanking the Queen's cypher, her initials ‘MA’. This seems to be a reflection of Marie Antoinette's personal taste, which can perhaps be characterised as an elegant neo-classicism softened by flowers and pastoral reminders. Riesener remained her favourite cabinet-maker even after the royal administration made attempts to end his position as privileged supplier to the king in 1785.
Recent conservation work has allowed us to understand much more about this piece of furniture. Like other furniture of the 18th century, the original colours have faded considerably over the years. For example, the veneer behind the gilt- bronze mounts on the frieze was once stained a bright turquoise, and the pastoral trophy on the front was similarly highly coloured. The reddish and purple tones of the other woods would have made this a really colourful piece of furniture, blending harmoniously with the embroidered silk wall hangings and the highly-decorated Sèvres porcelain displayed in the room. The pastoral emblems on the medallion were specifically designed to match one of the trophies in the wall-silk, a special fabric designed by Jacques Gondoin in 1779 for the room and woven at Lyons by Jean Charton. Originally this commode would have had a top of veined white marble, much more in keeping with neo-classical taste.
F248|1|1|This chest-of-drawers ('commode') by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) can be dated to c. 1782 on the basis of the resemblance of its mounts to two commodes delivered to Marie Antoinette for her apartment at the chateau of Marly in March of that year. Royal records show that the mounts on the Marly pair were chased and gilded by François Rémond (1747-1812). This commode now lacks the oval gilt-bronze frame, with garlands of flowers above and below, that is in the centre of the drawer fronts of the Marly examples, but there is evidence on the inside that it formerly possessed such a frame, probably enclosing a marquetry trophy (see for example F247 in the Wallace Collection). It may also have been completely reveneered, perhaps just after the French Revolution when royal emblems and heraldry were often eradicated from furniture (as for example seems to have been the case with the chest-of-drawers made for the prince de Condé, F246 in the Wallace Collection). Originally this commode would have had a top of veined white marble, much more in keeping with neo-classical taste.
F249|1|1|Called a 'commode à vantaux' (to denote a chest-of-drawers with doors), this is attributed to the ébéniste Bernard Molitor (1755-1833) on the basis of the fastidious workmanship which is characteristic of his oeuvre and of certain gilt-bronze mounts that are also found on pieces stamped by him, such as the frieze drawer mount with the chaplet of lilies-of-the-valley framing the keyhole and the ivy spiralling around columns at the front corners. Since it lacks a stamp, it may well be one of his earliest works and dated to the beginning of his career as an independent cabinetmaker.
It is, however, close in style to a number of pieces by Riesener and was probably made when Molitor was still established in the Cour de l'Orme of the Arsenal, near the Riesener workshop, before he moved to the rue de Bourbon in the summer of 1788. Similarities to work by Riesener include the frieze mount, the spiralling ivy around the legs and the way in which the waterleaf borders around the main mahogany panels have indented corners with rosettes mounted outside. The tripartite front is also influenced by Riesener designs.
The mahogany veneers have been chosen with utmost care and reflect the evolving interest in plainer wood finishes rather than marquetry, a fashion that was in large part due to the Anglophilia of the 1780s. The white Carrara marble used for the top and side shelves was also characteristic of this refined neo-classicism.
F252|1|1|Close in design to the chimney-piece of the grand salon of the Hôtel d’Orsay in Paris, this fireplace has engaged, fluted columns at the sides and a scrolling frieze mount along the top. The grand salon was decorated for the comte d’Orsay between 1769 and 1775, so the chimney-piece probably dates from the same years and the Wallace example probably to the same period or a few years later. The grate, fireback and side panels would have been supplied for the chimney-piece when it was installed in Hertford House between 1872-5 and are the same design as examples used elsewhere in the house.
F255|1|1|Spring-driven wall clock with a gilt-bronze case mounted with two infants of patinated bronze. A pair with the cartel barometer F256.
F256|1|1|A gilt-bronze case mounted with two infants of patinated bronze. A pair with the cartel clock F255.
F258|1|1|An extraordinary example of the skills of the Parisian bronze-worker, Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813), and considered to be one of his masterpieces, this clock is an example of the way in which clock cases were increasingly treated as pieces of figurative sculpture in their own right in the second half of the eighteenth century, and of the role of neoclassical sculptors in decorative art of the period. Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809) had just returned from Rome in 1771 and had yet to make his name in wider circles, but was commissioned to make the terracotta model for the clock, from which the gilt-bronze model was made.
We do not know in which foundry the clock case was cast but Gouthière most likely supervised this complicated process which required a number of different moulds, and he was certainly responsible for assembling the separate elements and for the chasing and gilding. The different textures of skin, feathers, water, foliage and harsh rock face which Gouthière has achieved are remarkable and have added a depth and dynamism to the sculpture. Unusually, he has left his ‘signature’ on the back of the clock, which gives some indication of the pride he must have felt in this commission and perhaps the pride the city council took in its execution.
The clock is remarkable for how much is known about both its commissioning and its execution. It was presented by the grateful city of Avignon to Jean-Louis-Roger, marquis de Rochechouart (1717-1776), a senior military figure who had been commanded by Louis XV to take possession of Avignon, which had been under papal jurisdiction since the Middle Ages. In April 1771 the council decided to make a gift of a clock to him and commissioned the successful Parisian jeweller, Ange Aubert, originally from Avignon, to have it made in Paris on its behalf. Aubert was well placed to know the best artists and craftsmen in the capital and did not disappoint his compatriots; within the year he was able to deliver this work of art, an extraordinary achievement by everyone involved.
The allegorical case is cast and chased as a rocky hill, at the base of which recline two figures symbolizing the rivers Rhône and Durance which flow through Avignon and bring wealth and abundance to the city, as evidenced by the cornucopia under the river god’s left arm. Power and strength are symbolized by Jupiter’s eagles supporting the clock, on which is placed Rochechouart’s coat-of-arms. The female figure clad in classical dress standing to the left of the dial symbolizes Avignon and crowns the coat-of-arms with a wreath of oak leaves.
The clock movement is the work of Nicolas-Pierre Guichon Delunésy (master 1764). The movement is of great sophistication and includes a very early example of a half deadbeat escapement, and its completion in the comparatively short timescale allowed by Aubert was quite an achievement.
F259|1|1|The design of this clock is tentatively attributed to the sculptor Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809). It shows Louis XVI dressed as a Roman general and receiving counsel from Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom – a poignant conceit in view of his later fate during the French Revolution. The gilt-bronze reliefs on the base depict, from left to right, the king dining with his brothers, the king in Roman military dress dictating laws from a book held by Justice to France, and the king enthroned on a dais, surrounded by allegorical figures including Truth banishing Falsehood. The clock itself is in the shape of a globe. Around the circumference of the globe are two rotating dials with numbers on enamel plaques indicating the hours (in Roman numerals) and the minutes. The lowest of three fleur-de-lis on the globe indicates the time.
F263|1|1|This clock, with its winged infants representing Astronomy and Geometry, is related to another with a similar design (but with figures representing ‘the Arts’) which was deposited with Robert Robin by Marie-Antoinette after the outbreak of the French Revolution. Robin (1742-99) also made the movement of the Wallace Collection’s clock. A particularly attractive feature of this clock is the enamelled band painted with four grisaille panels of the Seasons and four profile heads set against panels of simulated lapis lazuli.
F267|1|1|A model of clock originally known as ‘l’Emploi du Temps’, it was first made for Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777), a society hostess, famed for holding artistic and literary soirées. According to her will she kept the clock in her bedroom and admired it so much that she commissioned another version for Diderot. The reading figure symbolises the employment of time but may also reflect a contemporary portrait of Madame Geoffrin. The plinth was made by Joseph Baumhauer (died 1772) and the bronze figure and clock case were probably cast by the founder Edme Roy (master 1745) from a model by Laurent Guiard (1723-88).
F268|1|1|The design of this clock is attributed to the architect Antoine-Mathieu Le Carpentier (1709-1773), who worked with Jean-André Lepaute (1727-1801) on the mantel clock delivered to the Prince de Condé for the gallery of the Palais-Bourbon in Paris in 1772. There is, however, no mention of the eagle on the Palais-Bourbon clock and the base was different; it would appear, therefore, that this example is a slightly later version, a suggestion which is supported by the date of 1775 scratched on the spring of the striking train. It may have been cast by either Etienne Martincourt (master 1762) or François Vion (master 1764), since both these founders are mentioned as having made cases for J-A Lepaute in ‘Description de plusieurs ouvrages d’horlogerie’ (1766), written by the clock-maker.
The figures of Night (left) and Day are based on marble statues by Michelangelo, from the tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici in Florence (c. 1520-1534). These figures, very appropriate for the decoration of clocks, were first used on clocks by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732); bronze reductions of the figures appear to be listed in a document relating to his workshop in 1715, as well as in his probate inventory of 1732. The neo-classical movement, which was well underway by 1775, not only looked back to classical antiquity directly, but also through the prisms of the Renaissance and French seventeenth-century classicism, which made the works of Boulle a popular inspiration.
F269|1|1|Exquisitely decorated and chased, this clock is an example of the extraordinary refinement that the art of gilt-bronze had reached in Paris by the last quarter of the eighteenth century. This was clearly an important commission for a very wealthy and very fashionable client.
The clock is signed by the king’s clock-maker, Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (1727-1801). His workshop was responsible for the movement, while the clock case was the product of various different hands: an architect or designer, a sculptor, a bronze founder, a chaser and a gilder (these last two may have been the same man or at least the same workshop). Once gilded, the case was then handed over to the LePaute workshop, where the clock itself would have been fitted.
The motifs of the case evoke the Classical world, with Greek-style winged sphinxes, fruit and flower garlands symbolising peace and plenty, and billing doves, the attribute of the goddess Venus. The six medallions on the stone base (painted to represent green porphyry) are mounted in a guilloche-pattern frieze, and each represents one of the six signs of the zodiac for Spring and Summer: Aries, Taurus, Leo, Cancer, Gemini and Virgo. It is still possible to identify the different types of gilding used, with some areas burnished to a brighter finish than others to lend depth and movement, and even different tones, to the gold. Although Lepaute’s involvement is clear, we do not know precisely who made the gilt-bronze case. The superb execution limits the possible contenders to perhaps three or four workshops; the clock has been attributed in the past to Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813), official gilder and chaser to the comte d’Artois (1757-1836), or Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843) but there is no documentary evidence to support either of these. The chasing technique does not seem to support an attribution to Gouthière, while the same six medallions denoting the signs of the zodiac are found on a later gilt-bronze clock case signed by Thomire (private collection).
In 1777 d’Artois’ official architect, François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818), designed a small ‘maison de plaisance’ for the prince, the aptly-named Pavillon de Bagatelle on the outskirts of Paris. Bélanger was one of the prime exponents of the neo-classical style in architecture and the decorative arts, and everything about Bagatelle, both inside and out, was in the latest possible taste, executed by the group of talented decorators, sculptors and cabinet-makers regularly used by the architect. The walls of the circular salon were decorated with panels of painted and gilded stucco decoration in the Antique style made fashionable by English and French architects such as Robert Adam and Charles-Louis Clérisseau, while the silk curtains and velvet chairs were of ‘English green’. In 1781 Bélanger also designed a clock for the room which reflected this decoration; the Wallace Collection clock, which fits very closely the description of Artois’ clock in Lepaute’s bill, is dated 1781. This, and the fact that there is an almost identical clock in the collection of the Mobilier National in France (it is known that the comte de Provence, d’Artois’ brother, had a clock of the same model) suggests that the Wallace Collection clock may have been the one delivered for Bagatelle.
F270|1|1|The gilt-bronze group on the top of this clock shows Apollo in his chariot, whipping his horses into action to gallop across the sky, an illustration of a scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This motif is a particularly appropriate embellishment for a clock as Apollo was the sun god who rose every morning to bring the day. A similar scene is also referred to in a painting by Boucher in the Wallace Collection (P485).
The clock has a pendulum made up of five steel and four brass rods, which allow it to compensate for changes in atmospheric conditions.
F271|1|1|Weight-driven clock with a case of oak veneered with ebony. The heavy gilt-bronze mounts are typical of the early neo-classical style. The clock has a compensating pendulum made of brass and steel rods.
F272|1|1|This spring-driven clock is in the form of a white marble vase with rotating ring dials. The time is indicated by the tongue of the gilt-bronze serpent entwined round the neck of the vase. The vase is fixed to a cylindrical white marble plinth which in turn is attached to a square griotte marble base. A patinated figure of Cupid executed in the style of Falconet stands next to the vase, his arms encircling it and the gilt-bronze stems of poppies which stand in the vase. The clock and candelabrum was bought by the dealer Redfern of Warwick for the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the Stowe sale, 14th day, 1 September 1848. It was described in the catalogue for the sale as ‘a magnificent clock’ and a ‘beautiful piece of decorative furniture’.
F273|1|1|This one of a pair (with F274) of corner cupboards that were made for the apartment of the comte d'Artois (Louis XVI's youngest brother, later Charles X) at the château of Versailles, where they were probably placed in his bedroom to match a chest-of-drawers delivered two weeks earlier which had mounts of the same model. Originally the gilt-bronze oval medallions in the centre were decorated with a lion's pelt and a quiver of arrows, recalling the classical hero, Hercules, and strengthening the military character of the cupboards. This would have been very appropriate for the comte d'Artois, who was the Colonel-in-Chief of the Swiss Guards. The marble tops on the cupboards are original, and would have matched the griotte marble chimney-piece of d'Artois's bedroom.
The military theme was perhaps less appropriate when the corner cupboards were moved into the apartment of the comtesse d'Artois, where they stood in her 'grand cabinet', or study. Both apartments were on the first floor of the south wing of Versailles, which was destroyed in 1836 to make way for the Galerie des Batailles.
The cupboards were lent by the 4th Marquess of Hertford to the Musée Rétrospectif of 1865, an exhibition in Paris of eighteenth-century works of art. Both here and in later nineteenth-century inventories they are described as being of the Louis XIV era, or seventeenth century. In fact they date from the 1770s when neoclassicism was becoming very fashionable, but in France at this time this stylistic movement looked back to the days of Louis XIV for interpretations of the classical ideal, as well as directly back to Antiquity.
F274|1|1|This one of a pair (with F273) of corner cupboards that were made for the apartment of the comte d'Artois (Louis XVI's youngest brother, later Charles X) at the château of Versailles, where they were probably placed in his bedroom to match a chest-of-drawers delivered two weeks earlier which had mounts of the same model. Originally the gilt-bronze oval medallions in the centre were decorated with a lion's pelt and a quiver of arrows, recalling the classical hero, Hercules, and strengthening the military character of the cupboards. This would have been very appropriate for the comte d'Artois, who was the Colonel-in-Chief of the Swiss Guards. The marble tops on the cupboards are original, and would have matched the griotte marble chimney-piece of d'Artois's bedroom.
The military theme was perhaps less appropriate when the corner cupboards were moved into the apartment of the comtesse d'Artois, where they stood in her 'grand cabinet', or study. Both apartments were on the first floor of the south wing of Versailles, which was destroyed in 1836 to make way for the Galerie des Batailles.
The cupboards were lent by the 4th Marquess of Hertford to the Musée Rétrospectif of 1865, an exhibition in Paris of eighteenth-century works of art. Both here and in later nineteenth-century inventories they are described as being of the Louis XIV era, or seventeenth century. In fact they date from the 1770s when neoclassicism was becoming very fashionable, but in France at this time this stylistic movement looked back to the days of Louis XIV for interpretations of the classical ideal, as well as directly back to Antiquity.
F275|1|1|This corner cupboard is part of a suite of furniture that also comprised desk and a chest-of-drawers that was supplied by the queen’s favourite cabinet-maker, Jean-Henri Riesener, and was placed in her study in her private apartments at Versailles. The suite was originally intended for her rooms at Marly, another royal residence, but it was diverted to Versailles to take the place of some older furniture while a new suite of lacquer furniture that she had just ordered was being made. Once this new furniture arrived, this corner cupboard and accompanying items were sent to Marly, but evidently the queen liked them enormously as they were soon returned to Versailles to furnish another suite of her rooms on the ground floor of the palace.
The desk that matches this corner cupboard is also in the Wallace Collection (F303).
The appearance of both pieces has changed markedly from their delivery in 1783, as originally they were decorated with a marquetry veneer instead of burr wood. The changes may have taken place at the end of the 18th century, or early in the 19th century, and reflect the changing tastes of the period. The gilt-bronze mounts are sumptuous examples of the best work that decorated Riesener’s royal furniture, and incorporate stylised acanthus and naturalistic flowers of exceptional quality. The trophy on the door shows a pair of doves perched on a tambourine in the centre, with attributes of Cupid and Bacchus and a basket of flowers hanging on a ribbon. These themes of love and nature appear in many of Marie Antoinette's interiors and on much of the furniture delivered for her by Riesener.
Perhaps unusually, there was only ever one corner cupboard delivered for Marie Antoinette's study. The existence of another matching cupboard in the Wallace Collection (F276) that was once believed to have been the pair to this one underlines the desire of 19th-century collectors to acquire objects owned by the unfortunate queen, and was probably deliberately intended to deceive.
F276|1|1|This corner-cupboard was made in England in the nineteenth century as a pair to the French cupboard (F275) supplied in 1783 by Jean-Henri Riesener for Marie-Antoinette’s cabinet intérieur at Versailles. Although the mounts are very similar, the 19th-century cabinet has been veneered with amboyna rather than thuya wood, which is one of the reasons we know it was made in England. The lockplate is stamped by an English locksmith, T. Cadwallader, which helps us perhaps to date the copy to around 1864-70, when he was recorded as being in business in the London Directories. The quality of the copy is very high. The 4th Marquess of Hertford bought both cabinets as a pair in May 1870 from the Marjoribanks sale, where it was claimed that they both came from the Trianon. As the copy may have been less than ten years old at that stage, the evidence suggests that it was made with the intention to deceive a collector into thinking that both cupboards previously belonged to Marie Antoinette.
F277|1|1|Although unstamped by Riesener, this desk can be securely attributed to him as it is very similar to the roll-top desk he supplied for Marie-Antoinette’s private apartment at the Tuileries in December 1784. The same features are also on the roll-top desk veneered with mother-of-pearl supplied by him for Marie-Antoinette's boudoir at Fontainebleau. Furniture veneered with large sections of plain mahogany was very popular at this date, and attractive pieces of flame mahogany veneer have been chosen for this desk. The candelabra on either side of the desk were to provide light for someone working at the desk in the evenings. A writing-stand can be pulled out and raised from the top of the desk. In his bill for a roll-top desk for Thierry de Ville d’Avray, Riesener described the stand of that desk as intended for writing when standing up. The desk was in the collection of the 4th Marquess by 1865, when lent to the Musée Rétrospectif, and it is recorded in the Hertford House inventories of 1890 and 1898, in the Canaletto Room (now the Sixteenth Century Gallery).
The simplicity of the design and decoration looks forward to the furniture of the following two decades, and in 1874 when Sir Richard Wallace lent this desk to the Bethnal Green exhibition it was catalogued as being early nineteenth century.
F287|1|1|This suite of furniture (F178, F287 and F330) by René Dubois, perhaps the most magical group of furniture to survive as an ensemble in the Wallace Collection, is also one of the most important early examples of neoclassicism in France. The neo-classical style began to be seen in French art from around 1750 and was characterised by a regularity and balance in design and form and a references to the iconography of ancient Greece and Rome. The filing-cabinet (F178) is surmounted by a sensuous gilt-bronze group depicting the nymph Psyche embracing Cupid, and below are figures representing Peace and War. The filing section stands on a cabinet decorated with various gilt-bronze trophies, including a large trophy of arms on the front. The table (F330) is dominated by the sinuous gilt-bronze sirens placed at each corner, their tails intertwining with the table legs. The inkstand is decorated on either side with a ship’s prow, recalling the display of prows from conquered ships in the ancient Roman Forum. Although the filing-cabinet and the table are stamped twice ‘I DUBOIS’, the stamp of Jacques Dubois (1694-1763), because of their strongly neoclassical style they must have been made by his son, René Dubois (1737-1798), who became a master in 1755 and continued to use his father’s stamp. Other works by Dubois in the Wallace Collection are the remarkable commode veneered with Japanese lacquer (F245) and a small pair of corner cabinets (F100-101). The suite of green lacquer furniture may have been designed by the architect Charles de Wailly (1730-1798), as a design by him exists for a table with caryatid sirens at the top of the legs.
This group of furniture was almost certainly imported into Russia by Catherine the Great. It was given by her to her son, Grand Duke Paul, who presented it to Prince Alexander Kurakin, his friend from schooldays. Interestingly De Wailly is known to have had connections with Russia and in 1773 to have supplied Catherine the Great with designs for a pavilion. By the mid-nineteenth century a story had arisen that the Treaty of Tilsit, signed in 1807 on a raft in the river Nieman by the Emperors Napoleon I, Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia, had actually been signed on this table and using this inkstand, but this is more than likely to be ficticious.
The 4th Marquess bought all three pieces of furniture from the London dealer, Frederick Davis, in June 1866. They are recorded in his apartment at 3 rue Taitbout, Paris, in 1871, and in Lady Wallace’s Boudoir in 1890 and 1898.
F288|1|1|This splendid inkstand was made in the Valadier workshop in the Via del Babuino, Rome, for Pope Pius VI who had visited the workshop in 1779 and who was a great collector of Ancient Roman and Egyptian works of art. The five containers consist of a central penholder in the shape of a vase of serpentine supported on a pedestal, a sand-shaker and inkwell, both in the form of cylindrical pedestals, and two sarcophagus-shaped containers supported on lion-paw feet. The gilt-bronze frame of the stand is decorated with eagles and glass paste cameos of classical male heads, including Homer, Julius Caesar and Socrates. Porphyry was mined in Egypt in ancient times; it was associated with Roman Emperors and was much beloved of collectors of antiquities in the Renaissance and beyond.
The inkstand was in Valadier’s workshop in June 1785 when it was shown to the sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti. Since Luigi Valadier did not commit suicide until September of that year, it is highly likely that he was personally involved in making this highly accomplished neo-classical work.
F299|1|1|Unusually, this secretaire bears the signature in wood marquetry of the cabinet-maker who made it - Pierre-Antoine Foullet. The pictorial marquetry of the drop-front and the medallions on the bottom two cupboard doors is characteristic of work by him, and he appears to have used as his source two publications of engravings showing neo-classical designs: Jean-Charles Delafosse's 'Quatrième Livre de Trophées contenant divers attributs pastorals' (published 1776 or 1777) for the drop-front and Alexis Peyrotte's 'Premier Livre de Trophées' (before 1776). The marquetry depicts a scene of classical architecture, some of it in ruins, against a landscape of trees and sky. Originally this would have been very colourful, with the sky a deep blue made from stained sycamore. The marquetry in the bottom section includes a basket of roses, a swag of roses, pansies and other flowers, and two classical trophies depicting attributes of war and engineering. The gilt-bronze mounts add further to this feeling of military association, with two helmeted cuirasses (antique-style body armour) supporting a shield with a coat of arms and underneath a lion's head evoking the strength and might of Hercules. Other classical motifs include a Vitruvian scroll in a frieze along the top, laurel leaves, and two classically-draped female busts mounted on the corners. The heaviness of the mounts and trophies harks back to the French classicism of the late seventeenth century rather than the refined neo-classicism of the 1780s.
We do not know when the 4th Marquess of Hertford bought this secretaire, but earlier in the nineteenth century it was in the possession of the d'Hane-Steenhuyse family in Ghent, and it is the coat of arms of this family that is depicted on the drop-front, presumably added when the piece came into their ownership. We do not know for whom it was originally made.
F300|1|1|Delivered by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) on 8 July 1780 for Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, this drop-front writing desk is one of several similar pieces, some stamped by Jean-François Oeben and some by Riesener (who took over his workshop after Oeben’s death), all produced between the early 1760s and 1780. The transitional style of the desk, with its elaborate acanthus mounts and iconographical marquetry, including the cockerel of France on the drop-front contrasting with the neo-classical male mounts on either side and marquetry urns on the lower doors, indicates that it would have been largely out-of-date as soon as it was delivered in 1780. Indeed, Marie-Antoinette only kept the piece in her cabinet intérieur or private study for three years, before replacing it with another, less ponderous desk now also in the Wallace Collection (F303).
F301|1|1|The original owner of this splendid secretaire is unknown. It is probably close in date to a chest-of-drawers with similar designs supplied by Leleu for the bedchamber of the prince de Condé at the Palais-Bourbon in November 1772 (now in the Musée du Louvre). The quality of the execution, particularly in the construction of the upper compartment, with the use of solid satiné for all the drawers and the subtle profiles of the drawer fronts, suggests that this piece was intended for a similarly prestigious patron. The marquetry baskets of flowers on the bottom doors of the desk reveal the influence of Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), to whom Leleu had been apprenticed until Oeben’s death in 1763. The marquetry pattern on the sides is also found on furniture stamped by Riesener, Roussel, RVLC and Cramer. The gilt-bronze lion-paw feet are often found on furniture by Leleu and the gutsy architectural shape and motifs are representative of his work.
F302|1|1|Marie-Antoinette escaped the rigours of court etiquette by visiting the Petit Trianon, a small but perfectly-formed house in the grounds of Versailles that became her personal retreat. Both she and her husband, Louis XVI, had apartments there and she was involved in choosing the furniture for their rooms. This desk, with a fall-front that hides a number of small drawers and pigeon-holes and drops down to provide a writing surface, was supplied for the Petit Trianon by Riesener, her favourite cabinet-maker, on 8 March 1783. Most of the archives of the Garde-Meuble de la Reine, one of the organisations that supplied the Queen with furniture for her apartments, have been lost so we do not know for which room it was intended. The veneer decoration, with its lozenge pattern marquetry, is characteristic of the furniture Riesener supplied for the queen and other members of the royal family. Originally the marquetry would have been a much richer colour, but this has faded with time. The delicate gilt-bronze mounts, depicting flowers and ribbons, echo the flowers grown in the gardens of the Petit Trianon, and are typical of Marie-Antoinette’s love for the rural idyll.
F303|1|1|This desk was supplied by Riesener – Marie Antoinette’s favourite cabinet-maker – as part of a suite of furniture that also comprised a corner cupboard and a chest-of-drawers, and was put in the queen’s study in her private apartments at Versailles. The suite was originally intended for her rooms at Marly, another royal residence, but it was diverted to Versailles to take the place of some older furniture while a new suite of lacquer furniture that she had just ordered was being made. Once this new furniture arrived, this desk and accompanying items were sent to Marly, but evidently the queen liked them enormously as they were soon returned to Versailles to furnish another suite of her rooms on the ground floor of the palace.
The corner cupboard that matches this desk is also in the Wallace Collection (F275).
The appearance of both pieces has changed markedly from their delivery in 1783, as originally they were decorated with a marquetry veneer instead of burr wood. It is also likely that the gilt-bronze medallion in the centre, which depicts ‘The Sacrifice to Love’, has replaced a wood marquetry trophy. These changes may have taken place at the end of the 18th century, or early in the 19th century, and reflect the changing tastes of the period.
F304|1|1|Sèvres porcelain plaques were first made for use on furniture in the late 1750s. The cabinet-maker Martin Carlin (c.1730-85) specialised in this kind of furniture, decorated with delicate floral panels of Sèvres porcelain. This desk ('secrétaire à abattant') was probably commissioned by the prominent dealers ('marchands-merciers') Simon-Philippe Poirier and Dominique Daguerre who dominated the market in this type of furniture. The front panel on which the plaque is mounted drops forward to reveal a rich interior of drawers and pigeonholes, with further drawers in the frieze and under the fall-front. The shelves on either side would have been for display.
The floral swag mounts along the frieze of the desk and the elegant tapering legs are typical of the neo-classical style, and of work by Carlin. The rich pink and purple colours of the wood veneers, now faded, would once have matched some of the bright colours on the porcelain plaques. The drawer front on the stand is mounted with a central apron-shaped plaque in a gilt-bronze surround, imitating a fringed drape, a form harking back to furniture of the late seventeenth century.
F305|1|1|This desk was made by André Schuman but it probably looked rather different when it left his workshop. The large soft paste Sèvres plaques on the drop-front depicting a farmyard scene of a girl feeding chickens and two boys playing does not match the four corner plaques and was never intended to be mounted with them; they were probably originally intended for framing a clock dial. While the main plaque probably dates from the 1760s, it is likely that all five were only mounted onto the secretaire in the nineteenth century, when the fashion for Sèvres-mounted furniture revived.
Five of the gilt-bronze mounts on the legs are stamped with the mark of J. Piret (active c. 1856-1876), who used Sèvres porcelain on other furniture that he made or restored, which suggests that he might have been responsible for the alterations of this piece. However, it has single-throw locks which mean that it was also restored at some time in England. It certainly had its present decoration by 1859 when it was bought for the 4th Marquess of Hertford.
The model has been copied at least once in the nineteenth century, for example lot 217, Sotheby's New York, 30 October 2013, which is engraved 'E. POTEAU/59. Rue Turenne PARIS' on the lockplate.
F306|1|1|Although unstamped, this desk can be securely attributed to Riesener since various elements of the marquetry are very similar to those on pieces stamped by him. For example, the diaper-patterned marquetry on the upper drawers is found on numerous pieces stamped by him and the panel depicting a lyre and laurel wreath on the top drawer front appears on a desk made by Riesener for Madame Élisabeth at Fontainebleau. Intriguingly the vertical incisions in the lozenges on the drop-front and a groove visible in the oak top of the interior suggests that the desk was originally intended to be opened by means of a slatted panel sliding sideways. The alteration from sliding panel to drop-front evidently took place in the course of manufacture. The desk was in the collection of the 4th Marquess by 1865, when it was lent to the Musée Retrospectif. It was recorded in the Boudoir, Lady Wallace’s Bedroom, in 1898.
F307|1|1|Although not stamped by Weisweiler, this desk (secretaire) can be attributed to him on the basis of similarities to other pieces known to be by him, including similar inset columns at the front corners, similar gilt-bronze mouldings and similar legs, stretcher and feet. The inside of the desk has a simple but highly refined finish, with shelves and pigeon holes lined in satinwood and edged with amaranth.
The small circular plaque in the stretcher (museum number C504c) is a nineteenth-century addition and is not the Sèvres porcelain it purports to be. Fixed onto the drop-front are two Sèvres soft-paste porcelain plaques painted with sprays of flowers (C504a-b) and whilst these are clearly eighteenth century and bear the date letter for 1783, they may also have been added at the same time as the fake plaque. The mark of J. Wood is pencilled behind one of the central plaques and the gilt-bronze moulding around them does not have the elegance of the other mouldings.
The desk was bought for £420 by the dealer Samuel Mawson for the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the Angerstein sale, Christie’s, 12 May 1856. In a letter written by Lord Hertford to Mawson before the sale, he claimed to remember the piece in the collection of Mrs Fitzherbert at 6 Tilney Street.
F308|1|1|Stamped by Weisweiler, this desk bears close similarities to other pieces of furniture produced by him, especially the female gilt-bronze caryatids which appear on several desks and tables by him, including a table veneered with lacquer delivered for Queen Marie-Antoinette's 'cabinet' or study at Saint-Cloud in November 1784. The plaque with infants studying geometry and astronomy is also on a mahogany-veneered console table by Weisweiler.The inside of the desk has a simple but highly refined finish, with shelves and pigeon holes lined in satinwood and edged with amaranth. Weisweiler is known to have produced numerous pieces of furniture for Marie-Antoinette.
However, the desk has been the subject of alterations in the nineteenth century, not least the insertion of the porcelain plaque painted with the Queen's cypher, 'MA', in the stretcher (museum number C501e). There was a great interest in Marie-Antoinette in the early-to-mid nineteenth century and collectors were keen to acquire objects that she was believed to have owned, which resulted in alterations such as this one. A printed bill of trade was found under the plaque advertising the dealer Vaché, who must have had this fake plaque inserted. Moreover, the porcelain plaques on the front and sides of the desk (C501a-d) are not a set, which casts suspicion on when the rest of them were inserted. The two front plaques are soft-paste Sèvres porcelain and may have been painted by Nicolas Dodin, and supplied to the dealer Dominique Daguerre in 1777, while the oval plaque on the right-hand side was probably once a 'plateau Hébert' and that on the left-hand side was cut and decorated in the nineteenth century to match it. Vaché may have carried out all these alterations at the same time, or the two central plaques may have been added earlier to appeal to the taste for Sèvres-mounted furniture.
F309|1|1|Richly mounted with delicate gilt-bronze and veneered with flame mahogany panels on the doors, this handsome desk was made during a great turning-point in France, at the end of the Ancien Régime and before the start of the Empire in 1804. Some elements of its decoration, such as the rosette mounts and floral friezes, recall the furniture of Jean-Henri Riesener, while other elements, for example, the fluted columns on either side, foreshadow Empire furniture. The drop-front reveals a rich interior comprising four pigeonholes and nine drawers. The drawers are arranged around a central pigeonhole, the base of which contains a secret compartment.
The desk is first recorded in the Salon galerie at 2 rue Laffitte, 1871. In 1890 and 1898 it was recorded in Lady Wallace’s Boudoir.
F311|1|1|Although described as a bedside table in the Bethnal Green exhibition of 1872-5, this is actually a work table (table en chiffonnière), frequently used by women for holding their needlework or accoutrements from other similar activities. Several examples of this model exist, and they come from the workshop of Jean-Henri Riesener or Jean-François Leleu. The reason for the confusion is that both men trained with Jean-François Oeben and there are many similarities between their work in their early careers in the mid-1760s; the stamp of Oeben on one of the legs of this example does not clarify the matter. The marquetry basket of flowers is characteristic of work by Leleu, but the similarities in the construction between this and another table of the same model in the Wallace Collection (F313) suggests that it might be by Riesener. The uncompromising Greek key feet illustrate the fashionable ‘goût grec’ of the period, an early form of neoclassicism, and recall certain engraved designs by J-C Delafosse (1734-89).
The table was altered in the 19th century, probably in France, when the porcelain dish and plaques were added. The dish (museum no. C468) has been identified as a ‘plat ‘d’entremets du roi’’, of soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, with the date letter for 1757. However, there has been later decoration to this, evidenced by the flower sprays with the brown undercoat. Such a dish was not intended for mounting in furniture; it was probably added at the same time as the other Sèvres plaques, which were presumably decorated to match. The table may originally have had a marquetry top bordered by a gilt-bronze rim, as does the similar table F313.
F313|1|1|Although described as a bedside table in the nineteenth century, this is actually a work table ('table en chiffonnière'), frequently used by women for holding their needlework or accoutrements from other similar activities. It comprises a small cupboard in the upper section and two shelves below. The cushions on the shelves probably date from the mid-19th century, but before this the shelves may have had some form of textile lining. A candelabrum for two candles springs from the top of the table, enabling more light to be thrown on the activity of the person sitting by the table.
The uncompromising Greek key feet illustrate the fashionable ‘goût grec’ of the period, an early form of neoclassicism, and recall certain engraved designs by J-C Delafosse (1734-89).
Several examples of this model exist, and they come from the workshop of Jean-Henri Riesener or Jean-François Leleu. The reason for the confusion is that both men trained with Jean-François Oeben and there are many similarities in their work in their early careers in the mid-1760s. Like another example in the Wallace Collection (F311), this table appears to derive from the work of Oeben, but is considered to be an early work of Riesener, perhaps dating from the period after Oeben’s death before Riesener was made a master cabinet-maker. The reason for this attribution centres on the marquetry decoration, which is less cramped and more realistic than that on F311 and which may be compared to the floral marquetry on other pieces by Riesener, for example a roll-top desk in the Wallace Collection (F102).
F316|1|1|Writing-table of oak and pine, veneered with ebony and mounted with twenty-six Sèvres porcelain plaques painted with flowers in reserves within a green ground (C505). Made in the style of Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820, master 1778), but perhaps not of the same quality, the table was reveneered in London in the early nineteenth century and mounted with the Sèvres plaques, most of which bear the date letter for 1772. The table was first recorded in the collection of the Third Marquess of Hertford, in the inventory for St Dunstan’s Villa in 1842 in the Green Room. The table was adapted with a glass case for displaying gold boxes in the twentieth century. The case was removed in 1991 and the top relined with the present green leather.
F317|1|1|F317 was almost certainly made in 1785 under the direction of the marchand-mercier, Dominique Daguerre, in the workshop of François Rémond. The delicate frieze mounts, featuring masks of Bacchus, cornucopiae, recumbent goats and acanthus and vine scrolls, as well as the Grecian female bust caryatids at the top of each table-leg, are typical neo-classical motifs found on elegant furniture of the last half of the 1780s. The friezes are of exceptionally high quality, and are from models that appear to have been owned by Daguerre as they are found on pieces of furniture by cabinet-makers, for example Martin Carlin and Adam Weisweiler. Both Weisweiler and Carlin are known to have worked regularly for Daguerre, who may have designed the table.
The table may have been the one supplied to Daguerre by Rémond on 18 December 1785 for 6,000 livres but it is not known who was Daguerre’s client. The same friezes, which were supplied by Rémond to Daguerre on a number of occasions, are found on a table en chiffonnière in the Wallace Collection (F328), probably also designed by Daguerre. The models of the Grecian busts on the legs may also have belonged to Daguerre. The same figures are also on a console table stamped by Weisweiler in the Royal Collection.
The models of the friezes were probably inspired by engraved designs in G.-P.Cauvet, 'Frises et ornements à l'usage des sculpteurs', 1777.
Another table in the Wallace Collection, F318, appears to be a copy but its date is not known.
F318|1|1|F318 appears to be a copy of F317. Its date and maker are unknown. They were acquired together by Sir Richard Wallace as a pair.
F320|1|1|This great desk was made for Charles-Alexandre, Duke of Lorraine, Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands from 1744 until his death in 1780. Charles-Alexandre was Empress Maria-Theresa's brother-in-law and one of Austria's principal military commanders. In the late 1770s he undertook a wholesale refurbishment of his winter apartment in the palace at Brussels, of which the Audience Chamber was one of the main rooms. Part of the state rooms, this was also used by the prince personally and thus formed a transition between the public and the private; the new decoration was spectacularly modern and innovative. It included marquetry panels on the walls, commissioned from David Roentgen, to replace the tapestry hangings that had been there before, as well as gilt-bronze wall-mounted trophies and a parquetry floor. To complement the classically-inspired decoration, an entire new suite of furniture was delivered, veneered in the same wood as the panelling. It comprised two console tables, two settees, twelve chairs and this writing-table. Archival work has only found one receipt relating to this furniture, from Godtfried Weber for the woodwork of the two settees; Michel Dewez (1742-1804), the court goldsmith, produced the gilt-bronze mounts on the seat furniture. The similarities between these, the console tables now in the Albertina in Vienna and this desk all point to the same authorship. Weber was one of the 'menuisiers' or skilled wood-workers who also made inlaid floors and marquetry panelling for the palace and the construction of the writing-table shows every sign of being made by a menuisier and not a trained cabinet-maker.
F321|1|1|This elegant table is a pair to a similar table in the Huntington Museum in California, which is stamped by Bernard Molitor (1755-1833). Its size and delicate elegance suggest that it was made for the private apartments of a wealthy or aristocratic owner. The top slides back to reveal three compartments, the two on either side covered with marquetry-veneered hinged lids. There is evidence that originally the central compartment was also covered by a lid; in the Huntington version this is still extant and comprises a writing- or reading-panel, and there is no reason to assume that this table did not have the same configuration.
The decoration is of very fine quality, comprising both geometric and pictorial wood marquetry. Molitor came to Paris from Luxembourg in the 1770s and soon built up a remarkable client base which included members of Marie Antoinette’s circle and other aristocrats, but with the advent of the Revolution he closed his workshop for a few years before re-opening in the 1790s, when his business thrived once again. His meticulous craftsmanship and refined gilt-bronze mounts continued to be highly sought after by clients in both the Napoleonic and Restoration periods.
The marquetry top of this table incorporates a fret pattern of satinwood and amaranth with, in the centre, a trompe l’oeil open box. The fret pattern with its domino-like marking is echoed on the lids of the drawer compartments and, because the drawers have been hidden from the damaging effects of light, it is possible to see the vibrant yellow colour of the original satinwood, and the strong pink colour of the tulipwood veneer inside the compartments.
F322|1|1|This little table is one of the multi–functional items of furniture made for the private apartments of a wealthy household in late eighteenth–century France. The lid opens up to reveal a mirror, while a small leather–lined writing slide pulls out from underneath it. Small drawers on either side reveal compartments for writing materials and storage space for bottles.
Although the table is not stamped by Riesener, it can be safely attributed to him on stylistic grounds. The mounts of the frieze were used by him on royal furniture as early as 1774, for example on the corner cupboards for the salon des jeux du roi at Versailles, and as late as 1783 on tables for the French royal family. The spiral rope and pearl moulding on the legs is also found on Riesener furniture. The mahogany veneer is very characteristic of furniture of the 1780s, a fashion which was adopted from England. Originally the table had two drawers in place of the fall–front that is now there, but at some stage in its history, probably in the nineteenth century, the table was adapted and transformed into use as a bedside table.
F323|1|1|Reading and letter-writing were important activities in the daily life of wealthy educated French men and women in the second half of the eighteenth century and specialised pieces of furniture, like this table, were produced by some of the foremost cabinet-makers in Paris. Rather appropriately, this table is decorated with false book spines to evoke the function for which it is intended. These have faded over the years and were originally stained with red, blue, yellow and green dyes to be much more colourful. The book spines have been placed on the doors of three cupboards; the titles on the left comprise histories of towns and cities, those on the central door are literary, including the Letters of the Roman writer Horace, and those on the right are general histories. The drawers and cupboards hide shelves, compartments, and a silk-covered stand for reading or writing. There is also a secret drawer above the central cupboard which is opened by an ingenious mechanism that operates when you press on one of the flowerheads in the gilt-bronze frieze. The table once also had a wire trellis surrounding the shelf on three sides, probably serving to prevent books from falling off.
The construction and immaculate interior finish are hallmarks of work by Jean-François Leleu.
F324|1|1|This piece of furniture, known as a bonheur-du-jour in French, combines the storage space of a toilet table with the attributes of a desk, such as shelves and a drawer that pulls out to reveal a flat leather-lined surface for writing, which turns over to reveal a mirror. The marquetry of writing materials on top of the lower section is reminscent of marquetry designs by Charles Topino (1742-1803) and by Pierre Pioniez (1730-90), but is less complicated and shows no influence from Oriental lacquer. The bonheur-du-jour was probably made by a lesser cabinet-maker than either of these two, since its standard of finish is not high. The chasing of the gilt-bronze mounts is summary.
F325|1|1|With its slim columns and exquisite decoration, this table vividly evokes the elegance and intimacy of a lady’s apartment at the end of the Ancien Régime. The past-times for a wealthy lady included embroidery or tapestry, or similar needlework, and typically a table like this was designed to hold the various accoutrements for such activities. One of the long sides of the top can be lowered by pressing a spring-loaded knob on either side in order to provide greater ease of access to this tier.
The table was made by Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), who often worked for one of the most successful dealers in Paris, Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796). Sixteen Wedgwood jasper cameos depicting classical subjects, such as the Triumph of Cupid (top centre) and the Nurture of Bacchus (at the ends of the second tier), have been used to decorate the table and it is likely that Daguerre had access to these after the commercial treaty of 1786 which allowed trade between Britain and France.
A stamp under the bottom tier of the table ('PLS DES TUI') reveals that it was once in the Tuileries Palace and we know from an inventory of 1807 that it stood in one of Empress Josephine's salons. The Tuileries was the main Parisian residence of Napoleon and Josephine following their coronation as Emperor and Empress of France in 1804. We do not know of its location after 1809, when it was still recorded in the Tuileries, but it was in the collection of the 4th Marquess of Hertford by 1865. Its appeal as a lady's piece of furniture had evidently not diminished by the end of the 19th century, when Lady Wallace is recorded as having it in her boudoir in Hertford House.
F326|1|1|This table is an example of the small pieces of furniture that proliferated in the middle of the eighteenth century in France to make the domestic interior more comfortable. Known as a chiffonnière, it was suitable for moving around a room and could be used for placing things on, such as a cup and saucer or some needlework. There is a pull-out slide, perhaps for resting a book on. Boucher's portrait of Madame de Pompadour in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich shows her sitting at a similar table, albeit without a porcelain top, using it as a book-rest, candle stand and writing table. Tables like this are very characteristic of the work of Roger Vandercruse (1728-1799).
Decorated with veneered fret-pattern marquetry of stained sycamore, the table top comprises a Sèvres soft-paste porcelain tray with a turquoise-blue border (museum number C419). The tray is a plateau ‘Courteille’ or ‘de chiffonnière’ and was the first Sèvres porcelain shape to be regularly mounted on furniture. The date mark on the tray, 'h' for 1761, helps to date the table; the tray also bears the mark of the painter Louis-Denis Armand l’aîné (b.1723, left Sèvres 1779). Originally, the marquetry of the lower shelf would have echoed the strong colours of the Sèvres plateau, making a highly colourful piece of furniture. The fret-pattern marquetry is intended to echo the fret- or trellis-pattern gilding on the Sèvres porcelain tray; both are probably inspired by the fret-patterns of Japanese lacquer. Sèvres-mounted furniture became very popular in the 1760s and 1770s, although it always remained very expensive. The dealer Simon-Philippe Poirier specialised in selling it, and had a near-monopoly on buying porcelain plaques like the one on this table from the Sèvres manufactory.
F328|1|1|Although this resembles a small chest-of-drawers, it is almost certainly a work-table, or table en chiffonnière. Such tables were described in a manual for cabinet-makers of 1771 as '...types of little chests-of-drawers, or one would rather say, little tables for use by ladies when they are working, either embroidering or sewing'. The marble top is hinged, and lifts up to reveal a shallow storage space, lined with velvet. The three drawers below also have hinged fronts that can be opened.
It was probably made by Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820) for the dealer Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796) who supplied luxury objects and furniture to wealthy and aristocratic patrons in France, England and other parts of Europe. The gilt-bronze friezes around the top of the table, of exceptionally high quality, are from models owned by Daguerre and are found on pieces of furniture by other cabinet-makers, such as Martin Carlin. Both Weisweiler and Carlin are known to have worked regularly for Daguerre, who may have designed the table as well as supplying the mounts. Daguerre is known to have used the gilder François Rémond for his mounts, and this may be the model, comprising infant satyrs and goats, listed in Rémond's Journal as having been supplied to Daguerre in 1785, 1786 and 1787. The same friezes are found on a console table in the Wallace Collection (F317), probably also designed by Daguerre.
The cabinet-making of this work-table is of the highest quality, characteristic of work by Weisweiler. The mahogany veneer, extremely fashionable in the 1780s, has been carefully chosen for its 'spotty' effect. The bulbous gilt-bronze balusters and columns on the front corners are found on other pieces stamped by Weisweiler.
F330|1|1|This suite of furniture (F178, F287 and F330) by René Dubois, perhaps the most magical group of furniture to survive as an ensemble in the Wallace Collection, is also one of the most important early examples of neoclassicism in France. The neo-classical style began to be seen in French art from around 1750 and was characterised by a regularity and balance in design and form and a references to the iconography of ancient Greece and Rome. The filing-cabinet (F178) is surmounted by a sensuous gilt-bronze group depicting the nymph Psyche embracing Cupid, and below are figures representing Peace and War. The filing section stands on a cabinet decorated with various gilt-bronze trophies, including a large trophy of arms on the front. The table is dominated by the sinuous gilt-bronze sirens placed at each corner, their tails intertwining with the table legs. The inkstand (F278) is decorated on either side with a ship’s prow, recalling the display of prows from conquered ships in the ancient Roman Forum. Although the filing-cabinet and the table are stamped twice ‘I DUBOIS’, the stamp of Jacques Dubois (1694-1763), because of their strongly neoclassical style they must have been made by his son, René Dubois (1737-1798), who became a master in 1755 and continued to use his father’s stamp. Other works by Dubois in the Wallace Collection are the remarkable commode veneered with Japanese lacquer (F245) and a small pair of corner cabinets (F100-101). The suite of green lacquer furniture may have been designed by the architect Charles de Wailly (1730-1798), as a design by him exists for a table with caryatid sirens at the top of the legs.
This group of furniture was almost certainly imported into Russia by Catherine the Great. It was given by her to her son, Grand Duke Paul, who presented it to Prince Alexander Kurakin, his friend from schooldays. Interestingly De Wailly is known to have had connections with Russia and in 1773 to have supplied Catherine the Great with designs for a pavilion. By the mid-nineteenth century a story had arisen that the Treaty of Tilsit, signed in 1807 on a raft in the river Nieman by the Emperors Napoleon I, Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia, had actually been signed on this table and using this inkstand, but this is more than likely to be ficticious.
The 4th Marquess bought all three pieces of furniture from the London dealer, Frederick Davis, in June 1866. They are recorded in his apartment at 3 rue Taitbout, Paris, in 1871, and in Lady Wallace’s Boudoir in 1890 and 1898.
F383|1|1|A rectangular, break-fronted cabinet veneered with ebony and contre-partie Boulle marquetry and mounted with gilt bronze. The front is divided into three panels corresponding to the doors of the three cupboards behind. There are three gilt bronze figurative reliefs on the front depicting Bacchus, the Flaying of Marsyas and Ceres and on the sides Flora and Hiems. The top is of bleu turquin marble.
This cabinet bears the stamp 'JOSEPH', the mark of Joseph Baumhauer (d. 1772), a Parisian cabinet-maker who seems to have sold his furniture mostly through dealers (marchands-merciers). His work developed from a more sober rococo in the 1750s to an academic neo-classicism in the 1770s and it is from this later period of his career that this cabinet belongs, with its architectural rectangularity and its Vitruvian scroll mount, a characteristic ornament of early French neo-classicism. It was originally supplied to the marchand mercier Claude-François Julliot with its companion in première-partie marquetry which is now in a private collection. The figurative mounts on the front and sides are cast from mouldings taken from mounts on furniture by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), the buying of which was one of Julliot's specialities. This cabinet is thus a fine example of the re-interpretation of Boulle furniture in terms of early French neo-classicism.
F384|1|1|One of a pair (with F385) of cabinets veneered with ebony and figurative marquetry of brass and pewter; surmounted by a portor marble top (separable). Each door is mounted with a gilt-bronze medallion: the one on the left depicts a high priest garlanded with laurel holding his right hand over a tripod brazier, the one on the right shows a vestal similarly garlanded holding her casket over an altar. The marquetry is inlaid into the ebony veneer and depicts two trumpet-blowing figures of Fame supported by clouds and the two goddesses, Juno and Venus, in their chariots. Other gilt bronze mounts include consoles, lions' masks, bearded masks and borders of different mouldings.
These cabinets were made by René Dubois (1737-1798), who continued using the stamp of his father, Jacques Dubois (1694-1763), after the latter's decease. Their form reflects the rather ponderous magnificence of the goût-grec fashion of the early 1760s but they have been substantially altered at least twice since their original completion. They were probably bookcases originally, with door frames filled in the centre with brass-wire mesh. The later-added door panels probably date from the early 1780s and the figurative marquetry was added later, presumably before the death of Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798) whose stamp is on the top of this cabinet. The pair to this (F385) is stamped by Philippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and not Levasseur, which suggests that the alterations were carried out in separate workshops; that may explain why the figure of Venus is facing left to right on this cabinet while it is right to left on F385.
F385|1|1|One of a pair (with F384) of cabinets veneered with ebony and figurative marquetry of brass and pewter; surmounted by a portor marble top (separable). Each door is mounted with a gilt-bronze medallion: the one on the left depicts a high priest garlanded with laurel holding his right hand over a tripod brazier, the one on the right shows a vestal similarly garlanded holding her casket over an altar. The marquetry is inlaid into the ebony veneer and depicts two trumpet-blowing figures of Fame supported by clouds and the two goddesses, Juno and Venus, in their chariots. Other gilt bronze mounts include consoles, lions' masks, bearded masks and borders of different mouldings.
These cabinets were made by René Dubois (1737-1798), who continued using the stamp of his father, Jacques Dubois (1694-1763), after the latter's decease. Their form reflects the rather ponderous magnificence of the goût-grec fashion of the early 1760s but they have been substantially altered at least twice since their original completion. They were probably bookcases originally, with door frames filled in the centre with brass-wire mesh. The later-added door panels probably date from the early 1780s and the figurative marquetry was added later, presumably before the death of Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798) whose stamp is on the top of the pair to this cabinet (F384). This one is stamped by Philippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and not Levasseur, which suggests that the alterations were carried out in separate workshops; that may explain why the figure of Venus is facing left to right on F384 while it is right to left on this cabinet.
F386|1|1|A break-front bookcase, with three doors, the middle one mounted with a figure of Pomona (goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards). The bookcase derives from a type made in the workshop of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) during the latter part of Boulle’s life. However it has a panelled back, as one would expect on bookcases of the second half of the eighteenth century, and the design of the marquetry is not as rich as that found on pieces attributed to Boulle.
Possibly sold in the Bezenval sale, 10 August 1795; possibly sold in the Baron D’Ivry sale, 8-16 March 1841, lot 168; possibly bought by Richard Wallace at the Fiérard sale, 7 March 1846, lot 92. They were exhibited at Bethnal Green in 1872-5 and by 1890 were recorded in the Reynolds Drawing Room (now the Small Drawing Room).
F387|1|1|A break-front bookcase, with three doors, the middle one mounted with a figure of Pomona (goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards). The bookcase derives from a type made in the workshop of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) during the latter part of Boulle’s life. However it has a panelled back, as one would expect on bookcases of the second half of the eighteenth century, and the design of the marquetry is not as rich as that found on pieces attributed to Boulle.
Possibly sold in the Bezenval sale, 10 August 1795, the bookcase and its pair F386, are likely to have been purchased by the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the Baron D’Ivry sale, 8-16 March 1841. They were exhibited at Bethnal Green in 1872-5 and by 1890 were recorded in the Reynolds Drawing Room (now the Small Drawing Room).
F388|1|1|A rectangular, break-front cabinet (bas d'armoire) veneered with ebony and contre-partie Boulle marquetry and mounted with gilt bronze. The central oval plaque depcits a scene known as the Rape of Helen, a story from Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid, with Paris ushering Helen down some steps to the water's edge during her abduction from Troy. This cabinet may have originally been sold with its pair, which may have been veneered in première-partie marquetry or may have been decorated with a central medallion depicting a different scene. Another cabinet in the Wallace Collection (F389) is very similar but is not the original companion piece.
Although very much in the style of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and perhaps even derived directly from a Boulle model, this cabinet dates from the early Louis XVI period. Cabinets of this model were commissioned from Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798) by Claude-François Julliot, a dealer (marchand mercier) who specialised in buying and selling old and new Boulle furniture and who is likely to have supplied Levasseur with the mounts for this piece, which are casts after mounts on original Boulle pieces. During the 1760s and 1770s the appetite for Boulle furniture from art collectors and connoisseurs was very marked and Levasseur was one of several cabinet-makers who built up a good business restoring original pieces by André-Charles Boulle, producing copies of them, or making neo-classical interpretations of early eighteenth-century Boulle furniture.
Cabinets such as this one were often used for storing books.
F389|1|1|A rectangular, break-front cabinet (bas d'armoire) veneered with ebony and première-partie Boulle marquetry and mounted with gilt bronze. The central oval plaque depicts the subject of Ajax carrying off Cassandra, a story from Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. This cabinet may have originally been sold with its pair, which may have been veneered in contre-partie marquetry or may have been decorated with a central medallion depicting a different scene. Another cabinet in the Wallace Collection (F388) is very similar but is not the original companion piece.
Although very much in the style of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and perhaps even derived directly from a Boulle model, this cabinet dates from the early Louis XVI period. Although it is of different construction to F388, it is probably by the same cabinet-maker, Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798), and of approximately the same date. Cabinets of this model were commissioned from Levasseur by Claude-François Julliot, a dealer (marchand mercier) who specialised in buying and selling old and new Boulle furniture and who is likely to have supplied Levasseur with the mounts for this piece, which are casts after mounts on original Boulle pieces. During the 1760s and 1770s the appetite for Boulle furniture from art collectors and connoisseurs was very marked and Levasseur was one of several cabinet-makers who built up a good business restoring original pieces by André-Charles Boulle, producing copies of them, or making neo-classical interpretations of early eighteenth-century Boulle furniture.
Cabinets such as this one were often used for storing books.
F390|1|1|This magnificent bookcase is veneered with ebony and with première- and contre-partie Boulle marquetry of brass and turtleshell. It has three compartments, fitted with pinewood shelves, closed by glazed double doors and separated by pilasters veneered with Boulle marquetry. There are gilt bronze mounts on the front and sides including bearded male masks, winged infants and the groups of Apollo and Marsyas and Apollo and Daphne.
It is a reinterpretation of a design by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) by Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798, maître 1767) and is closely related to a pen-and-wash drawing after Boulle showing a bookcase with accompanying filing-cabinet and writing-table that was destroyed in the Second World War. This drawing was annotated by a contemporary hand and from these references it was clear that the design had been carried out; the similarities in measurements and decorative detail suggest that the Wallace Collection bookcase was copied from one made after the drawing. Similar bookcases are known from eighteenth-century portraits and one was supplied by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux to the great connoisseur and art collector, Lalive de Jully, in 1756.
The Wallace Collection piece appears to follow the Lalive example closely, although the original shape has been adapted to the neo-classical taste of the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the compartments have glazed doors, whereas earlier these would have been filled with a brass wire mesh. It may be linked to two similar bookcases in the Royal Collection.
F392|1|1|One of a pair (with F391) of cabinets (meubles à hauteur d'appui) veneered with ebony and contre-partie Boulle marquetry. Each contains twelve drawers, four behind the central door and four on each side, although these are hidden behind a door decorated with simulated drawer fronts. The cabinets are mounted with gilt bronze ornament, including lion paws, a mask of Apollo, profile boys' heads and laurel garlands. The medallion on the front of this cabinet represents the duc de Sully in profile, while that on F391 depicts Henri IV. Both have tops of Brocatello marble.
Although based on a design by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), these cabinets date from the Louis XVI period and are attributed to Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798). During the 1760s and 1770s the appetite for Boulle furniture from art collectors and connoisseurs was very marked and Levasseur was one of several cabinet-makers who built up a successful business restoring original pieces by André-Charles Boulle, producing copies of them, or making neo-classical interpretations of early eighteenth-century Boulle furniture. The Wallace cabinets are very similar to a pair now in the Louvre that bear Levasseur's stamp. Previously thought to have been by Boulle with later modifications by Levasseur, the Louvre pair is now also considered to be the work of Levasseur, although perhaps reusing elements by Boulle. Levasseur has taken Boulle’s cabinet on stand design and transformed the top half into a ‘meuble à hauteur d'appui’, a piece of furniture that became fashionable in the second half of the eighteenth century. It was placed against the wall and bronzes or porcelain might have been displayed on the marble top. Often made in pairs, they were frequently used to furnish a 'cabinet' or gallery where paintings were hung.
There are small differences between the two Wallace cabinets which suggest that they may have come from two separate pairs, although these are not so great as to mean the cabinets were made by different workshops.
F393|1|1|A pair with F394, this cabinet, or 'meuble a hauteur d'appui', is by the ebeniste Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820, maitre 1778) and is a reflection of the appetite for Boulle furniture in Franceh in the last thirty years of the eighteenth century.
The form derives from a type of cabinet by André-Charles Boulle that was originally intended to be placed on a console stand; but by this stage of the eighteenth century the lower height was favoured and this type of 'meuble a hauteur d'appui' has integral legs. Boulle's legacy is, however, further apparent on these cabinets with the re-use by Weisweiler of old Boulle metal marquetry panels, two either side of the main front panel on each cabinet.
The gilt-bronze mount of Bacchus (representing Autumn) on F393 is also on various other pieces of furniture in the Wallace Collection: on the sides of three armoires (F61, F62 and F63) and the left door of F383. While F61 and F62 are firmly attributed to Andre-Charles Boulle, the attribution of F63 is less secure and F383 is a break-front cabinet by Joseph Baumhauer dating from about 1770. This clearly demonstrates the continued use of Boulle-designed mounts long after the ébéniste's death; dealers like Claude-Francois Julliot (1727-94) specialised in contemporary Boulle furniture which utilised mounts cast from mouldings taken from early eighteenth-century pieces. Weisweiler is likely to have had the mounts - as well as the old Boulle panels - supplied by the dealer for whom this piece was commissioned, probably Julliot for whom we know Weisweiler worked. However, Boulle-style cabinets like this formed only a small part of Weisweiler's oeuvre and are relatively rare.
F395|1|1|One of a pair with F396, the cabinet or 'meuble a hauteur d'appui' is an example of the kind of luxury furniture supplied by Weisweiler (1744-1820, maitre 1778) through the marchand-mercier, or dealer, Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796). It incorporates seventeenth-century Boulle marquetry and exquisite pietre dure panels depicting fruit and flower garlands which are also likely to have been produced in the late seventeenth century in France at the Gobelins Manufactory. Pietre dure was particularly highly-prized and often re-used on furniture, and Weisweiler made something of a specialisation of this technique.
Gilt-bronze mounts of caryatids often appear on such cabinets by Weisweiler, either in the form of flatter mounts, such as those on the sides of the cabinet here, or as three-dimensional columns on either side of the front. The circular gilt-bronze plaque depicts a nymph helping an infant carrying a thyrsus or staff of Bacchus to ride a satyr, a light-hearted classical scene.
F396|1|1|One of a pair with F395, the cabinet or 'meuble a hauteur d'appui' is an example of the kind of luxury furniture supplied by Weisweiler (1744-1820, maitre 1778) through the marchand-mercier, or dealer, Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796). It incorporates seventeenth-century Boulle marquetry and exquisite pietre dure panels depicting fruit and flower garlands which are also likely to have been produced in the late seventeenth century in France at the Gobelins Manufactory. Pietre dure was particularly highly-prized and often reused on furniture, and Weisweiler made something of a specialisation of this technique.
Gilt-bronze mounts of caryatids often appear on such cabinets by Weisweiler, either in the form of flatter mounts, such as those on the sides of the cabinet here, or as three-dimensional columns on either side of the front. The circular gilt-bronze plaque depicts a young satyr dancing to the music of pipes being played by a nymph, a light-hearted classical scene.
F397|1|1|One of a pair of cabinets (with F398) veneered with Boulle marquetry of brass and tortoiseshell over a red ground; the marquetry is in premiere-partie on F397 and contre-partie on F398. Each cabinet has a drawer in the frieze and a cupboard below, the cupboard doors mounted with patinated bronze plaques showing light-hearted classical scenes. The sides are veneered with ebony and premiere- or contre-partie Boulle marquetry rosettes. The bases are separately constructed and are venerred wtih ebony and Boulle marquetry and gilt-bronze mounts. The marble of this cabinet was cut in London in 1984 to match that of its pair.
The construction and materials - narrow dovetails, single-throw brass locks and relatively lavish use of mahogany inside - confirm that these cabinets are of English make and may have been bought by Sir Richard Wallace when he moved into Hertford House in 1875. They show a typical mid- to late-nineteenth-century eclecticism which combines a rectilinear Weisweiler-inspired cupboard with a bombe base. The use of a strong red pigment is also characteristic of late-nineteenth-century Boulle marquetry.
The gilt-bronze male masks on the sides of the bases are copied from a model by Andre-Charles Boulle.
F402|1|1|Dated to c.1710, this chest-of-drawers (commode) is attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). It shows certain similarities with the pair of chests-of-drawers made by Boulle for the bedroom of Louis XIV at the Grand Trianon in 1708-9, and various other chests-of-drawers attributed to Boulle such as the pair in the Louvre which have fauns' heads mounted in the centre, and one in the J. Paul Getty Musuem, stamped C. M. COCHOIS but attributable to Boulle's workshop.
This piece displays the enormous creativity and inventiveness of Boulle, who was so influential in the evolution of furniture design in the early eighteenth century. Here he has taken the existing form of a bureau, or writing desk, and transformed it into a piece of furniture more recognisable as the chest-of-drawers of today. For some time these commmodes were known as 'bureaux en commode'; it was not until 1711 that the simple term 'commode' appeared in the Crown furniture records. Commodes went on to become hugely popular in the furnishing of eighteenth-century French interiors and were found in many different rooms, including studies and bedrooms, where they were usually placed on a wall opposite the chimney-piece.
This commode is stamped E LEVASSEUR JME which suggests that at some stage it was restored by Etienne Levasseur (1721-1798, maitre 1767).
F403|1|1|This chest-of-drawers (commode) is one of a pair (with F404). They are made of oak with walnut drawers, and veneered with ebony and première-partie Boulle marquetry of brass, pewter and turtleshell. The tops are of red griotte marble.
These commodes are accomplished French copies from the mid-nineteenth century of a model of chest-of-drawers that may be attrubuted to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732).
A red chalk drawing in the Hermitage, showing part of a chest-of-drawers ending in a hexagonal column, was exhibited at Frankfurt in 2009 in 'André-Charles Boulle. Un nouveau style pour l'Europe' (cat. no. 61). The drawing, which envisaged more complex mounts than on these Wallace Collection commmodes, and a plinth below the ends, was once in the collection of Alfred Beurdeley (1847-1919), who noted in his manuscript inventory, ‘Le meuble se trouve exécuté avec quelques modifications chez sir Richard Wallace.’ [This piece is found with several modifications in Sir Richard Wallace's collection]. This suggests a possible connection between these commodes and the Beurdeley workshop, possibly in the time of Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-82).
There is also a pair of similar commodes, but considered to be early 18th-century, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
F404|1|1|This chest-of-drawers (commode) is one of a pair (with F403). They are made of oak with walnut drawers, and veneered with ebony and première-partie Boulle marquetry of brass, pewter and turtleshell. The tops are of red griotte marble.
These commodes are accomplished French copies from the mid-nineteenth century of a model of chest-of-drawers that may be attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732).
A red chalk drawing in the Hermitage, showing part of a chest-of-drawers ending in a hexagonal column, was exhibited at Frankfurt in 2009 in 'André-Charles Boulle. Un nouveau style pour l'Europe' (cat. no. 61). The drawing, which envisaged more complex mounts than on these Wallace Collection commodes, and a plinth below the ends, was once in the collection of Alfred Beurdeley (1847-1919), who noted in his manuscript inventory, ‘Le meuble se trouve exécuté avec quelques modifications chez sir Richard Wallace.’ [This piece is found with several modifications in Sir Richard Wallace's collection]. This suggests a possible connection between these commodes and the Beurdeley workshop, possibly in the time of Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-82).
F405|1|1|This magnificent sarcophagus-shaped chest-of-drawers ('commode') is characteristic of the grandest furniture of the late seventeenth century with its premiere-partie Boulle marquetry and imposing gilt-bronze mounts. The turtleshell in the marquetry decoration has been veneered over a red ground which gives the piece its strong red colour.
The commode is attributed to Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (c. 1639-1715) on the grounds that the cabinet-maker is known to have co-operated with Jean Berain (1640-1711) after whose designs the shape and decoration of the piece is taken.
Oppenordt was of Dutch origin, but was working in Paris some time before 1679 when he received letters of naturalisation. He worked for the royal Gobelins Manufactory and in 1684 was given lodgings in the Louvre; he supplied Louis XIV and the Court with furniture and marquetry floors; similar brass bandings and stringings as those on the commode are found on the floor of a coach commisioned for the Swedish king in 1696 and made by Oppenordt.
The commode was originally made with its pair, veneered with contre-partie decoration. This is now in a private collection. Both pieces had marble tops added in the nineteenth century to replace the original marquetry finish, most probably by the London dealer Edward Holmes Baldock, whose stamp can be found on the back of F405.
F406|1|1|Commodes like this, with two large drawers below two smaller ones, were known as commodes en tombeau, and became very popular from the second decade of the eighteenth century. Often veneered with tropical hardwoods imported from abroad, and with rich gilt-bronze mounts applied to emphasise the corners, feet and handles, commodes became a regular feature of French interiors.
This one is veneered with walnut, ebony and contre-partie Boulle marquetry of red and green stained horn and mother of pearl to give it an expensive and luxurious aspect. Stamped on the carcase with the initials ‘FM’, it is thought to have been made in the workshop of François Mondon, a cabinet-maker operating from the rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris from c. 1720-70 who specialised in commodes of this shape. His workshop premises also included a shop, from where he sold his own furniture and those pieces he had sub-contracted to other cabinet-makers.
The prominent corner mounts represent the busts of two Roman generals. These mounts are almost the same models as those found on pieces of furniture by Charles Cressent (1685-1768), underlining the difficulties in attributing furniture to cabinet-makers on the basis of gilt-bronze mounts. When these two busts were added is unknown, but the quality of the chasing is not of the standard found on authenticated work by Cressent, suggesting that unauthorised copies of Cressent’s models were used. The generals also show no evidence of ever having been gilded; although unusual for the nineteenth century, furniture mounts in the eighteenth century were often left un-gilded, even by cabinet-makers as eminent as Cressent, but instead underwent a less expensive treatment to give the brass from which they were made a gilded appearance. The other mounts on this commode – such as those on the apron and the handles – are gilded, and are found elsewhere on Mondon’s furniture as well as on pieces by other cabinet-makers of his generation such as Etienne Doirat, Louis Delaître, Pierre IV Migeon and Mondon’s brother-in-law, Jacques-Philippe Carel. This underlines the importance to the evolution of French eighteenth-century furniture of the ‘marchands fondeurs’, or bronze-makers who sold the mounts to cabinet-makers. It appears that cabinet-makers themselves owned the exclusive models to their mounts only rarely.
F407|1|1|This chest-of-drawers (commode) dates from the Régence period in France and is typical in outline of many commodes of this date. Its shape is known as a 'commode en tombeau', recalling the sarcophagus shape of Ancient Rome.
However, in the nineteenth century this commode underwent considerable alteration, and even the Boulle marquetry was added. During conservation work it was discovered that this overlaid a reddish wood veneer (possibly mahogany) which would not have been the case with early eighteenth century Boulle marquetry. Moreover, the two top drawers were originally one full-width drawer that was split into two at a later date, presumably during the nineteenth-century restoration. Some of the mounts also appear to be later additions.
Interestingly, in 1872 the chest-of-drawers was exhibited by Sir Richard Wallace at the Bethnal Green exhibition, where it was referred to as having 'new Boulle work'. This suggests that Sir Richard or his father, the 4th Marquess of Hertford, had acquired the piece knowing full well that it had been recently heavily restored.
F412|1|1|Coffers like this are sometimes referred to as marriage coffers, but this is a nineteenth-century description and they were in fact known as coffres de toilette in the seventeenth century when they were first made. This indicates that they would have been used for storing personal items associated with the toilette, a ceremonial preparation for both men and women for getting dressed and made-up at the beginning of the day. The design clearly evokes the earlier travelling trunks bound with cord or leather straps. Models like this were made by André-Charles Boulle from the 1680s.
The marqeutry on this coffer and stand incorporates pewter as well as brass, giving an added richness to the pieces. This is further embellished by the outstandingly fine gilt bronze mounts, such as the mask of Apollo in the centre of the coffer covering the keyhole, and the two bearded satyrs’ masks either side. In the centre of the drawer at the top of the stand is another mask, this time of Daphne with sprigs of laurel springing from her hair identifying her as the beautiful nymph who rebuffed Apollo. Note the way in which the Daphne mount and the gilt-bronze volutes from which the handle falls reflect the movement of the metal marquetry: this is a fine example of the harmony of design and quality of execution that have made Boulle’s work prized by collectors ever since.
The gilt-bronze vase on the stretcher is a 19th-century addition. The coffer and stand was exhibited at Bethnal Green (1872-75) where the description made explicit reference to the fleur de lys ornament and the royal crown, thus giving it a supposed royal provenance.
Although this coffer was treated as a pair to another in the Wallace Collection (F411) from as early as 1890, the two had separate provenances in 1870 when the 4th Marquess of Hertford died, one being in his Parisian residence in rue Laffitte and the other in Hertford House in London. There are subtle differences between the two - the marquetry on the coffers does not match exactly and is much richer on this one.
F413|1|1|This piece is made up of three elements - a clock resting on a filing-cabinet (which has been adapted to be a medal-cabinet), supported by a two-door cupboard. The clock and filing-cabinet date from c. 1715 and may be attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), although they did not belong together originally. The cupboard base was made in England, probably between 1834 and 1845 when the clock movement was altered, but it incorporates panels of early 18th-century Boulle marquetry on its doors and sides. This piece may be considered part of a general nineteenth-century taste for Boulle furniture.
The front of the medal cabinet comprises a drop-front with a panel of turtleshell, against which are mounted gilt-bronze figures of the Three Fates: Clotho standing on the left, Atropos seated in the middle cutting the thread of life, and Lachesis seated on the right. Although the drop-front is one of the 19th-century alterations, the English cabinet-maker appears to have taken the mounts of the Three Fates from a Boulle bracket clock, of which there are other models known.
The movement of the clock is by Jean Moisy (1714-82, maitre 1753), horloger de la duchesse du Maine, recorded as working in Paris. It was repaired in Paris by Jean-Baptiste Degrez (or Degres) (maitre 1778), and in Lille by Palmy in 1799, as recorded by marks on the front and back plates. It was extensively altered in London in the mid-19th century, when its present dial, with the forged mark LE, ROY. Â, PARIS, was enamelled by J. Merfield. It was given a new steel-spring pendulum suspension, was changed from back winding to front winding and had a calendar mechanism removed.
F414|1|1|This corner cupboard is a pair to another in the Wallace Collection (F415). The popularity of Boulle-style furniture revived from c. 1760 with the increasing interest in seventeenth-century French classicism and its interpretation of the Antique, and with the so-called goût-grec, a precursor to the neo-classical taste of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The Parisian dealers did much to stimulate this fashion by selling old pieces by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and by commissioning new pieces in the same manner. Martin Carlin was a highly accomplished ébéniste who appears to have worked mainly for Parisian dealers (marchands-merciers) and it is likely that these pieces were commissioned by one of these men. Although these pieces are not stamped by Carlin, there is another pair with matching premiere-partie marquetry bearing his mark in a private collection.
Apart from the marquetry technique, the elements on these pieces that recall the seventeenth century are the gilt bronze mounts which derive from Boulle’s work and, ultimately, from a ceiling painting in the Queen’s Apartment at Versailles by Michel Corneille the Younger (1642-1708) entitled 'Aspasia, Queen of Egypt, among the Philosophers of Greece'.
These cupboards were probably owned by the duc d’Aumont, a great collector and patron of the arts, and sold after his death in 1782. The 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired them sometime before 1865 when one of them was lent to the Musée Retrospectif in Paris and was described as being from the time of Louis XIV. However, Boulle marquetry corner cupboards are examples of a furniture type that appear never to have been made by A.-C. Boulle himself.
F415|1|1|This corner cupboard is a pair to another in the Wallace Collection (F416). The popularity of Boulle-style furniture revived from c. 1760 with the increasing interest in seventeenth-century French classicism and its interpretation of the Antique, and with the so-called goût-grec, a precursor to the neo-classical taste of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The Parisian dealers (marchands-merciers) did much to stimulate this fashion by selling old pieces by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and by commissioning new pieces in the same manner. Martin Carlin was a highly accomplished ébéniste who appears to have worked mainly for Parisian dealers and it is likely that these pieces were commissioned by one of these men. Although these pieces are not stamped by Carlin, there is another pair with matching première-partie marquetry bearing his mark in a private collection.
Apart from the marquetry technique, the elements on these pieces that recall the seventeenth century are the gilt bronze mounts which derive from Boulle’s work and, ultimately, from a ceiling painting in the Queen’s Apartment at Versailles by Michel Corneille the Younger (1642-1708) entitled 'Aspasia, Queen of Egypt, among the Philosophers of Greece'.
These cupboards were probably owned by the duc d’Aumont, a great collector and patron of the arts, and sold after his death in 1782. The 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired them sometime before 1865 when one of them was lent to the Musée Retrospectif in Paris and was described as being from the time of Louis XIV. However, Boulle marquetry corner cupboards are examples of a furniture type that appear never to have been made by A.-C. Boulle himself.
F416|1|1|The newly-emerging rococo style is evident in this table, with its light aspect and fine triangular cabriolet legs. It is a bedside table, or 'table de chevet', one of the new, smaller pieces of furniture that were introduced in the eighteenth century to help contribute to the comfort of daily life for the wealthy. For use in the bedroom, a chamber-pot would have been placed on the lower shelf, whilst the upper shelf would have served as a vide-poches; the shaped openings at the side provided the means of easily carrying the table in and out of the bedroom when not in use.
The marquetry of turtleshell and brass shows some design similarities to marquetry on other pieces of furniture, such as that on a chest-of-drawers in the Wallace Collection attributed to Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731). However, the bedside table was made perhaps twenty years after the chest-of-drawers, which suggests not that they are by the same cabinet-maker (Sageot became mentally ill in 1723) but that both pieces used pieces of marquetry bought from the same professional marquetry cutter which were then assembled in different cabinet-makers’ workshops. If this was so, it tells us something about working practices in the Parisian furniture trade in the early eighteenth century.
The front edge of the upper shelf has marquetry which looks very much more like early nineteenth-century designs than eighteenth-century work and it is probable that this piece was restored and perhaps altered at this time.
F424|1|1|This bow-fronted table is very similar to another in the Wallace Collection (F425) except for the marquetry designs on the tops. On this one, Cupid sits on a swing above an elaborate triumphal chariot carried on the backs of two oxen; the motifs are borrowed from engravings by Cornelis Bos (c. 1506-c. 1564). On the other, monkeys play and carouse in human dress, a theme satirising the folly of man that was popular in seventeenth-century Flanders and later in eighteenth-century France.
Elements of the composition were taken from a copy of an engraving by Pieter van der Borcht IV (1580-1608). André-Charles Boulle was an inveterate collector of prints and drawings and possessed a large collection, from which many of his ideas were sourced.
The design may be related to the smaller tables supplied by Boulle for the château de la Ménagerie in 1701. This was renovated by Louis XIV for the duchesse de Bourgogne, his beloved great-niece and the future mother of his great-grandson, Louis XV. The decoration was planned by the architect Jules-Hardouin Mansart and included furniture on a reduced scale, including seven tables supplied by Boulle. The decoration of monkeys, birds and foliate motifs would have harmonised perfectly with the interior decoration of the chateau and the portraits of animals which lined the walls.
A drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris shows a model of table similar to the Wallace Collection pair. The design reappeared, captioned as a 'Grande Table' and with a female mask on the drawer front, in a set of Boulle's engravings that was published as ‘Nouveaux Deisseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie’ (‘New Designs of Furniture and Works of Bronze and Marquetry’) sometime after 1707. Evidently a successful model, Boulle’s workshop made several variations over the years, with differing mounts on the legs.
From eighteenth-century sales catalogues we can tell that tables of this type existed both as individual models and as pairs and that they were designed to be placed on either side of a chimney, or between windows. The tops were of marquetry, as in this example, or of leather or marble. This table has been displayed as a pair with F424 since 1870, but they may have been together since the late 18th century since they share the same key for their drawers. The differences in height and framing of the marquetry tops, however, suggest that they were originally intended as single tables.
Three groups of tables of this type have been identified; the first consists of tables that follow the Boulle drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs quite closely and have tops, where they survive, that either show this 'Triumphal Chariot' design or the 'Birdcage' design found on F425. The second and probably later group are generally slightly larger and have female heads at the tops of the front legs instead of the satyr masks found on this table, while the third group are considered to be the products of mid-18th century ébénistes responding to the later demand for furniture in the Boulle style.
Stamped beneath the back rail of the stretcher is the mark 'I. DUBOIS; I. DUBOIS JME', the mark used by René Dubois (1737-1798, maitre 1755), who probably restored the table and may have added the cassolette of strongly Louis XVI character in the centre of the stretcher.
F425|1|1|This bow-fronted table is very similar to another in the Wallace Collection (F424) except for the marquetry designs on the tops. On this one, monkeys play and carouse in human dress, a theme satirising the folly of man that was popular in seventeenth-century Flanders and later in eighteenth-century France. Elements of the composition were taken from a copy of an engraving by Pieter van der Borcht IV (1580-1608). On the other, Cupid sits on a swing above an elaborate triumphal chariot carried on the backs of two oxen; the motifs are borrowed from engravings by Cornelis Bos (c. 1506-c. 1564). André-Charles Boulle was an inveterate collector of prints and drawings and possessed a large collection, from which many of his ideas were sourced.
The design may be related to the smaller tables supplied by Boulle for the château de la Ménagerie in 1701. This was renovated by Louis XIV for the duchesse de Bourgogne, his beloved great-niece and the future mother of his great-grandson, Louis XV. The decoration was planned by the architect Jules-Hardouin Mansart and included furniture on a reduced scale, including seven tables supplied by Boulle. The decoration of monkeys, birds and foliate motifs would have harmonised perfectly with the interior decoration of the chateau and the portraits of animals which lined the walls.
A drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris shows a model of table similar to the Wallace Collection pair. The design reappeared, captioned as a 'Grande Table' and with a female mask on the drawer front, in a set of Boulle's engravings that was published as ‘Nouveaux Deisseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie’ (‘New Designs of Furniture and Works of Bronze and Marquetry’) sometime after 1707. Evidently a successful model, Boulle’s workshop made several variations over the years, with differing mounts on the legs.
From eighteenth-century sales catalogues we can tell that tables of this type existed both as individual models and as pairs and that they were designed to be placed on either side of a chimney, or between windows. The tops were of marquetry, as in this example, or of leather or marble. This table has been displayed as a pair with F424 since 1870, but they may have been together since the late 18th century since they share the same key for their drawers. The differences in height and framing of the marquetry tops, however, suggest that they were originally intended as single tables.
Three groups of tables of this type have been identified; the first consists of tables that follow the Boulle drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs quite closely and have tops, where they survive, that either show this 'Birdcage' design or the 'Triumphal Chariot' design found on F424. The second and probably later group are generally slightly larger and have female heads at the tops of the front legs instead of the satyr masks found on this table, while the third group are considered to be the products of mid-18th century ébénistes responding to the later demand for furniture in the Boulle style.
Stamped beneath the back rail of the stretcher is the mark ‘J.F. LELEU', the mark used by Jean-François Leleu (1729-1807, maitre 1764) who probably restored the table and may have added the cassolette of strongly Louis XVI character in the centre of the stretcher.
F426|1|1|The revival of interest in Boulle furniture in the mid-eighteenth century meant that contemporary cabinet-makers ('ébénistes') attempted to recreate original works by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) or to make pieces in a similar vein, and this is one such piece. The table is close in shape to a model designed by Boulle and produced in his workshop known as a ‘table en huche’ (chest-shaped table) of which at least one example is known.
Jean-Ulric Erstet was an ébéniste working in Paris in the Louis XV and transitional styles whose maker’s mark is stamped on this table. A mark can mean that an ébéniste has either made a piece or restored it, and although early eighteenth-century Boulle furniture was regularly restored at this time, this table appears to be original work by Erstet because of various differences in the form and quality of the decoration. However, Erstet did incorporate some early eighteenth-century gilt bronze mounts, such as the female mask on the front and the lion-paw feet on the back legs which are of higher quality and heavier than other mounts and he seems to have copied the early eighteenth-century marquetry design very closely.
In the nineteenth century this table was altered and the present marble top was put in place, a second drawer added to the left-hand side and both drawers given padouk lining (a nineteenth-century veneer).
F427|1|1|This desk (or 'bureau plat' in French) is one of the finest examples of furniture attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) in the Wallace Collection. Boulle was instrumental in developing this form of table and produced several versions with slightly differing outlines, drawer configuration and mounts over a period of perhaps 25-30 years. The shape proved hugely successful, and went on to dominate the shape of writing furniture made by other ébénistes until the middle of the eighteenth century.
The quality of the gilt bronze mounts on the desk is particularly fine, with satyrs' heads at the four corners and two masks on the central drawer fronts representing the weeping philosopher (Heraclitus) and his laughing counterpart, Democritus, both highly appropriate figures to have adorning a table intended for writing and study and belonging to an educated patron. The presence of the satyrs' heads suggest that this is one of Boulle's earlier bureau plat models, as in his probate inventory of 1732 such mounts are referred to as 'anciens'.
F428|1|1|Although similar to writing-tables made in France in the early 18th century, this table dates from c. 1840; the design of the marquetry is too crowded and the mounts over-elaborate to be 18th century. The mounts do not derive from models by André-Charles Boulle but rather from mounts characteristic of veneered furniture of the Régence period (1715-1723) and the early part of the reign of Louis XV.
The Neptune masks at the tops of the legs are of a model that is found on a group of pieces of furniture dating from c. 1730, and also on 19th-century furniture. This suggests that the models for the mounts were either kept and used by a cabinet-maker a century later, or that 18th-century mounts were copied in the 19th century and used on new furniture. A Boulle marquetry writing-table, with the same moulding and Neptune masks as this table is at Felbrigg Hall, and is known to have been acquired in Paris in the 1840s. The tables are probably by the same maker, but we do not know when this one came into the Wallace Collection.
F439|1|1|This is a late-nineteenth-century imitation of a pier glass in the Louis XVI style, probably made in Paris. It is carved with typically neo-classical motifs such as the trophy at the top comprising Cupid's torch and quiver, encircled by a wreath of roses (the attribute of Venus) and tied by a ribbon bow to a double spray of bay leaves (symbolising Apollo's love for Daphne).
The pier glass hangs in the Front State Room of Hertford House.
F459|1|1|Probably installed in the Back State Room at Hertford House, 1872-5.
F460|1|1|This desk is a copy of probably the most celebrated piece of eighteenth-century French furniture, the 'bureau du roi', or roll-top desk (the first of its kind) now at Versailles, which was made for Louis XV by Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763) and Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) and delivered in 1769.
It was made for the 4th Marquess of Hertford, probably by Carl Dreschler, in Paris. In the 1850s the 4th Marquess of Hertford was a friend of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie and is likely to have seen the original desk, either in the grand salon of the Tuileries or, later, in Eugénie's study at the palace of Saint-Cloud to where it was moved by 1855. The maker has copied the desk as it was after the alterations of 1794, when the original interlaced Ls of Louis XV were replaced with biscuit porcelain Sèvres plaques and elements of the marquetry decoration were changed.
Lord Hertford's copy may date from the 1850s and is believed to have cost him £3000, an enormous amount of money. He commissioned other copies of celebrated pieces of French eighteenth-century furniture at this time, made in both France and England, but this and a copy of the bureau of the Elector of Bavaria (museum number F461) are the only two in the Wallace Collection. His copy of the bureau du roi was the first of a number of copies that were produced from the 1870s by leading cabinet-makers in Paris, including Henri Dasson (exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1878), J-E. Zweiner, Alfred Beurdeley, J-H. Jansen and François Linke.
F461|1|1|This is one of two copies, supplied to the 4th Marquess of Hertford by the London cabinet-maker John Webb, of the writing-table of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (1662-1726), made for him in Paris in about 1715 and now in the Louvre, Paris. The movement of the clock is by Peter Saphin of London (working c.1841-74). The 4th Marquess ordered drawings of the original desk (then in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch) when it was exhibited at Gore House in London in 1853. The desk in the Wallace Collection was among seven copies of furniture made by Webb for the 4th Marquess after furniture displayed at the Gore House Exhibition. Interestingly, the 4th Marquess chose to replace the enamel plaques bearing the arms of the Elector of Bavaria with medallions bearing his own arms, those of the Seymour-Conway family, thus clearly demonstrating his ownership.
The fact that the 4th Marquess wanted to have copies of French 18th-century furniture is fascinating; in some instances he paid as much, if not more, for copies as for original pieces. The high quality of workmanship of this desk is reflected in the high price he paid for it: £825 in 1857. John Webb (c. 1800-1872) was an upholsterer, cabinet-maker and dealer with premises in various West End addresses in the mid-nineteenth century: Old Bond Street, Cork Street and Grafton Street. He also employed a number of craftsmen but we do not know the identity of the highly-skilled workmen who worked on this desk. He retired from business in about 1860.
The other copy is now in the Casa-Museu Medeiros e Almeida in Lisbon.
F468|1|1|The Chimney-piece in the Front State Room appears to be a made-up piece, possibly prepared by a monumental mason to be fitted in Hertford House between 1872-5. The plaque of Diana is finely carved and is perhaps taken from an eighteenth-century chimney-piece in the style of William Kent.
F472|1|1|One of a pair of coffers (with F473) made for the collector and author William Beckford’s famous but short-lived Gothic folly Fonthill Abbey, built between 1798 and 1823. Probably made in London, they were recorded in the Sanctuary at Fonthill in 1823 but not in an earlier engraving of 1812. A description of the room, which had a carved and partly gilt oak ceiling ‘covered with a reticulation of lozenge work’, and walls covered in crimson damask, indicates how well they would have suited it. The general form of the coffers resembles that of Florentine cassoni, but with neo-Gothic ornament superimposed.
Variously described later in their history as '16th-century Italian' and 'French, 17th-century from the Scots' College in France', they were sold by Beckford at the Fonthill Abbey sale of 1824 as robe chests of the time of James I (ruled 1603-23), a description which explains the rose and thistle motifs on the carving. This romantic royal provenance is typical of Beckford's collecting, although in this instance it was not true.
F510|1|1|One of a pair (with F511), this table has mid sixteenth-century north Italian supports which are dramatic examples of Renaissance Italian carving, featuring winged female terms flanking masks. The supports of F511, the pendant table, are made of Douglas fir and not walnut, suggesting that while this table dates from c. 1550, F511 was made later, at the time the table tops were added, probably in about 1830. The tables are thus important examples of the nineteenth-century revival of interest in Renaissance styles. The tables appear to have been put together in their current form for Bentley Priory, the home of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn, at whose sale in 1853 the pair was bought by the 4th Marquess of Hertford.
F511|1|1|One of a pair (with F510), this table has supports in the manner of Italian Renaissance carving from the mid sixteenth-century. They are, however, made from Douglas fir (pine), rather than the more typical walnut of that period and region, which suggest that the table was made later to provide a pendant to F510. The tops on both tables were probably added in about 1830, which is probably when this second table was made. Both tables are important examples of the nineteenth-century revival of interest in Renaissance styles. The tables appear to have been put together in their current form for Bentley Priory, the home of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn, at whose sale in 1853 the pair was bought by the 4th Marquess of Hertford.
F512|1|1|This console table, with its elaborate base and colourful top, was probably made in Rome, c. 1700 – 1720. It is typical of the kind of Italian furniture acquired by gentlemen to furnish their houses in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. Made of carved and gilded pinewood, the table base represents three infants linked by garlands of foliage and berries. Such animated figures, two of which stand on the rocky terrain as if to support the table top, often feature on baroque style Italian tables, which were made to be positioned against a wall in a large room or hall. The top is of stone, skilfully veneered with different marbles and alabasters in decorative patterns. The marbles probably came from excavations in Rome and the three landscapes are characteristic of Florentine workmanship.
The table was once in the collection of Richard Grenville (1797 – 1861), who inherited Stowe House as second Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1839. A watercolour of the State Drawing Room (now the Temple Room) executed by Joseph Nash in 1864 shows the table situated in an apse at the north end of the room. The watercolour is one of a series commissioned by Queen Victoria after her three-day stay as the house earlier that year. She is said to have commented that the room, immediately west of the Marble Saloon, at the centre of the house, was ‘one of the most perfect interiors ever witnessed’. Other pieces of Italian furniture shown in the watercolour include a set of chairs carved with the figures of infants. Two of the chairs are now also in the Wallace Collection.
Although he was already in debt, the second Duke of Buckingham and Chandos spent vast sums preparing for the Queen’s visit to Stowe House and in August 1848 was forced to sell the contents of the house. The catalogue for the sale records that the Italian furniture in the State Drawing Room had been imported en bloc in the 1830s by an entrepreneurial Milanese dealer, Gasparoni, who had ‘chartered a vessel expressly to convey [it] to England’. The firm of Town and Emanuel bought the whole shipment and sold several pieces to the Duke of Buckingham. The table and two chairs were purchased by the dealer Redfern on the fifth day of the Stowe sale for the 4th Marquess of Hertford.
F514|1|1|This table (one of a pair with F515) was almost certainly made in Rome, and were probably the product of a workshop specialising in furniture for wealthy foreign gentlemen on the Grand Tour. They were bought in 1774 in Rome by one such English aristocrat, the 1st Marquess of Buckingham, who had them sent back to England. Decorated with ox skulls (bucrania) and classical reliefs they are self-consciously neo-classical, and would have appealed to contemporary taste at a time when architects like Robert Adam were transforming the English country house in the ‘antique’ style. The verde antico veneer was probably obtained from excavations of Ancient Roman sites.