EARLY 18TH CENTURY, ONE WITH ALTERATIONS

Precious and costly oriental lacquer, prized for its delicate, lustrous decoration, was among the most luxurious and popular items imported to Europe by the Portuguese and Dutch East India Companies from the late 16th and early 17th century onwards. However, its highpoint in terms of European fashion and intertest in the arts of the China and orient generally came in the later years of the 17th and the early years of the 18th Centuries. In 1684 Louis XIV held a splendid reception for the ambassadors of Siam and in the same year the publication in the Nouveau Mercure Galant of a description of the travels of father Couplet to China fostered the burgeoning interest amongst the French court. A young duc de Maine met the Jesuit Couplet and his Chinese convert in 1684 after their return from to Europe and was deeply interested in their adventures, which inspired a series of tapestries based on their stories; the designs proving so popular that they continued in production at Beauvais until 1732. The desire for precious lacquered furniture could not be serviced by the import trade alone and highly refined japanning techniques were developed, which also allowed the easier production of furniture in fashionable French forms. Often, panels of Chinese lacquer would be incorporated into a piece and would provide the inspiration for the overall decorative scheme which would be complimented and completed with Japanning, as seen to great effect here.

One of these meuble d'appui was included in the 1881 Exposition des des Beaux-Arts, Section de L'Art Rétrospective, held at Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France where it was described as ‘Une armoire en laque vieux Chine.’ (no. 513). The fact that this cabinet was considered of such merit as to be shipped from Paris to Tours to feature in the exhibition at that date illustrates the esteem in which prized ‘antique Chinese lacquer’ continued to be held. The remnants of the exhibition label identifies the owner as Marie Elisabeth Thalie Luzarche d'Azay (1835-1925) who lived in the Hôtel Luzarche d’Azay, 5 Square Messine, Paris. The family also owned the splendid Château d'Azay-le-Ferron near Tours, so it was likely via this connection that the ‘armoire’ would have come to be lent for the 1881 exhibition; the chateau remained with the family and their descendants into the 20th century when it was bequeathed to the city of Tours.