.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Mathieu Criaerd, maître in 1738.
This elegant commode, with its lush, polychrome lacquer of exotic birds and foliage framed by delicately scrolling foliate and rocaille mounts belongs to a well-defined group of lacquer commodes by Criaerd, all probably commissioned through the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert.
Hébert worked extensively with the royal court, and indeed in 1737 supplied the celebrated lacquer commode by BVRB to Queen Marie Leczinska for her chambre de retraite at the château de Fontainebleau, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe, Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. I, cat. 42). This famous commode was the first to creat a tripartite arrangement to the front, thus creating a greater harmony between the mounts and the lacquer, and forming the prototype for Criaerd's series of lacquer commodes also commissioned by Hébert.
Among the lacquer commodes of this type by Criaerd, employing mounts largely of the same model, notable examples include one from the Grog-Carven collection in the Louvre (illustrated in Alcouffe, op. cit., cat. 46), one sold Christie's, London, 9 December 2004, lot 200 (£195,650), and another example illustrated in T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XVIIIe Siècle, Brussels - Paris, 2000, p. 301, fig. 166. Perhaps the most famous lacquer pieces by Criaerd are the commode and encoignure executed in blue and white vernis and with silvered bronzes, including almost identical framing mounts to the centre, delivered by Hébert in 1742 for the bedroom of Louis XV's mistress, the Comtese de Mailly, at the château de Choisy, now in the Musée du Louvre (illustrated in Alcouffe, op. cit., cat. 43.
The presence of these framing mounts on pieces by other cabinet-makers such as Jacques Dubois and Adrien-Faizelot Delorme indicates that their models were also owned by the marchand mercier Hébert.
This elegant commode, with its lush, polychrome lacquer of exotic birds and foliage framed by delicately scrolling foliate and rocaille mounts belongs to a well-defined group of lacquer commodes by Criaerd, all probably commissioned through the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert.
Hébert worked extensively with the royal court, and indeed in 1737 supplied the celebrated lacquer commode by BVRB to Queen Marie Leczinska for her chambre de retraite at the château de Fontainebleau, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe, Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. I, cat. 42). This famous commode was the first to creat a tripartite arrangement to the front, thus creating a greater harmony between the mounts and the lacquer, and forming the prototype for Criaerd's series of lacquer commodes also commissioned by Hébert.
Among the lacquer commodes of this type by Criaerd, employing mounts largely of the same model, notable examples include one from the Grog-Carven collection in the Louvre (illustrated in Alcouffe, op. cit., cat. 46), one sold Christie's, London, 9 December 2004, lot 200 (£195,650), and another example illustrated in T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XVIIIe Siècle, Brussels - Paris, 2000, p. 301, fig. 166. Perhaps the most famous lacquer pieces by Criaerd are the commode and encoignure executed in blue and white vernis and with silvered bronzes, including almost identical framing mounts to the centre, delivered by Hébert in 1742 for the bedroom of Louis XV's mistress, the Comtese de Mailly, at the château de Choisy, now in the Musée du Louvre (illustrated in Alcouffe, op. cit., cat. 43.
The presence of these framing mounts on pieces by other cabinet-makers such as Jacques Dubois and Adrien-Faizelot Delorme indicates that their models were also owned by the marchand mercier Hébert.