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Lot Essay
This exquisite and delicate table, veneered in precious panels of seventeenth-century Japanese lacquer, was commissioned by one of the most celebrated collectors and society beauties of her day, Louise-Jeanne de Durfort, duchesse de Mazarin (1735-1781). It was placed in the grand salon de réception of her hôtel on the quai Malaquais, one of the most lavishly decorated rooms in Paris, on the site of what is now the École des Beaux Arts. The table can be identified as lot 223 in the sale of her collection on 10 December 1781, where it was described as:
Une petite table, dont le dessus à fond noir, est orné d'une grande rosace de deux oiseaux singuliers et de branchages de fleurs : les quatre coins sont du même genre. Elle est bordée d'un carderon de bronze, avec entrelacs et rosace ; sur le devant est un tiroir de 9 pouces de long, dont la face et les trois autres côtés sont de laque. Le tout décoré de bronze et de marqueterie et enrichi de divers ornements.
Hauteur 24 pouces (65 cm) ; largeur 16 pouces (43,3 cm)
Both the dimensions and the precise description of the distinctive and rare panel of Japanese lacquer panel to the top, with the ‘grande rosace de deux oiseaux singuliers’ equate perfectly to the exquisite table offered here. Furthermore, confirmation that it formed part of the furnishings of the grand salon de réception of her hôtel on the quai Malaquais is provided by the inventory of the procès verbal which accompanied the 1781 sale catalogue, where item 159, located in this room, was described as "une petite table quatre pieds en marqueterie à tiroirs de laque et à dessus de plateau en laque avec un cordon de bronze, prisée 240 livres". At the 1781 sale it was bought for 301 livres by the marchand Dubois and then vanished from sight until appearing at auction in Orléans in 1972.
THE DUCHESSE DE MAZARIN AND THE HOTEL MALAQUAIS
The duchesse de Mazarin was the daughter-in-law of the famous collector and intendant des Menus-Plaisirs Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d'Aumont (1709-1782), and patronized many of the same circle of architects and craftsmen as her father-in-law. She therefor turned to the architects François-Joseph Bélanger and Jean-François Chalgrin to supply designs for the remodeling of her hôtel, and extensively and famously patronized the duc d’Aumont’s favorite bronzier, Pierre Gouthière.
The duchesse de Mazarin’s entertainments were among the most lavish in Paris, and at such an event in the early 1770s, a fête champêtre reputedly costing 80,000 livres, she brought a flock of sheep from her country residence at Chilly. The sheep, when frightened by a dog, reportedly ran amok in the duchesse's dazzling grand salon de réception, culminating with a charging ram shattering many of the prized mirrors. It was perhaps as a result of this fiasco that she embarked on a renovation of her hôtel, including a lavish remodeling of the grand salon. This spectacular room was on the first floor of the corps de logis of the hôtel, occupying the whole width of the building with views onto both the garden and the courtyard. Under the guidance of the architects François-Joseph Bélanger and Jean-François Chalgrin, the room was lavishly appointed in the new ‘arabesque’ style, and indeed the small room through which one entered the grand salon was known as the salon arabesque. The paneling was supplied by Philippe-Joseph Williamé, menuisier en bâtiments, and was carved by Gilles-Paul Cauvet in 1773 and painted by Nicolas Huet in 1776. Elaborately carved frames housed a set of Gobelins tapestries with theatrical scenes after Coypel.
In 1778, Bélanger and Chalgrin supplied the celebrated suite of furniture in bleu turquin marble with superb bronzes by Gouthière, comprising a spectacular side table (now in the Frick Collection, New York, acc. no. 1915.5.59), a pair of pedestals supporting candelabra sculpted by the sculptor Jean-Joseph Foucou, later acquired for Baron James de Rothschild’s palatial château de Ferrières and recently sold from the Rothschild collection, (Christie’s, Paris, 21 November 2023, lot 20, €1,492,000), and a matching fire surround to which Foucou supplied the sculptural uprights. Gouthière also supplied the celebrated wall-lights with blued steel backplates and arms in the form of poppies (now in the Musée du Louvre, inv. no. OA 11995) and a pair of chenets in the form of eagles, now in the collection of the Mobilier National (C. Vignon and C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court, exh. cat., New York, 2016, cat. nos. 22, 26, 39 and 49). The room featured relatively little case furniture, perhaps because of its use for entertaining, but contained several sets of seat furniture, elegantly upholstered in silk in shades of green, grey and white, with a further suite comprising two small canapés and eight fauteuils featured tapestry covers woven at the Gobelins factory by Cozette after designs by Dussaux.
The artistic harmony of the room was remarkable: the ormolu garlands of roses and laurel heading the bleu turquin marble table also featured in the Gobelins seat covers, while the scrolling arabesque frieze of the table matched the cresting of the trumeaux in the room, and the white and green silks elsewhere in the room echoed those of the specially woven Aubusson carpet.
A small group of furniture occupied the center of the room, including a games table with Sèvres porcelain plaques, a small marquetry table by Carlin and the jewel-like lacquer-mounted table offered here, whose delicate form and bold black and gold color scheme must have stood out in this magnificent room. The duchesse's keen taste for sumptuous pieces in Japanese lacquer, shared by other notable collectors including Madame de Pompadour and Queen Marie-Antoinette, is well established, reflected by the beautiful commode by Saunier from her country residence at Chilly (lot 73 in this sale). It was no doubt influenced by the fabled Mazarin lacquer coffer which had been supplied to her family in the seventeenth century (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 412:1,2-1882). Sadly, the duchesse died in 1781 with the renovation still in progress, and her collection was sold later that year, to offset the debts amassed through her extraordinarily lavish remodeling.
A POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION
Although this remarkable table is unsigned, a possible maker is the German-born cabinet-maker Joseph Baumhauer, who supplied other pieces to the duchesse de Mazarin and was renowned for his use of lacquer. Known as Joseph, he was one of the most accomplished and innovative cabinet-makers of the 1750s and 1760s, whose oeuvre reached a level of refinement few of his confrères could rival. He married in Paris in 1747 and was appointed ébéniste privilegié du Roi around 1749. Established in the rue du faubourg Saint Antoine at the sign of the 'Boule Blanche', he worked throughout his career almost exclusively for the marchands-merciers, including Hébert, Heceguerre, Duvaux, Julliot, Héricourt, Darnault and Poirier. A refined use of precious Japanese lacquer is a particular recurring motif of his oeuvre, including the famous commode supplied to the marquis de Marigny, brother of Madame de Pompadour, in 1764 and the exquisite small bureau plat, lot 62 in this sale. He is also recorded as supplying other furniture to the duchesse de Mazarin for the hôtel Malaquais, including a commode à portes and a pair of matching encoignures incorporating Japanese lacquer circa 1770, which were lots 218-219 in the 1781 sale, later in the collection of the dealer Maëlrondt and now in the British Royal collection at Windsor Castle. Joseph successfully bridged the transition from the Rococo and embraced the new Neoclassical style. An interesting feature of his work are details that echo the Régence style of the early eighteenth century, for instance a distinctive retardataire use of foliate framing mounts seen on Régence case furniture, featuring on the frieze of the present table as well as other pieces by Joseph such as the abovementioned suite supplied to the duchesse de Mazarin, and a Boulle bibliothèque basse, sold from the collection of the comte de Vaudreuil in 1787 (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 239, figs. 244-245).
Une petite table, dont le dessus à fond noir, est orné d'une grande rosace de deux oiseaux singuliers et de branchages de fleurs : les quatre coins sont du même genre. Elle est bordée d'un carderon de bronze, avec entrelacs et rosace ; sur le devant est un tiroir de 9 pouces de long, dont la face et les trois autres côtés sont de laque. Le tout décoré de bronze et de marqueterie et enrichi de divers ornements.
Hauteur 24 pouces (65 cm) ; largeur 16 pouces (43,3 cm)
Both the dimensions and the precise description of the distinctive and rare panel of Japanese lacquer panel to the top, with the ‘grande rosace de deux oiseaux singuliers’ equate perfectly to the exquisite table offered here. Furthermore, confirmation that it formed part of the furnishings of the grand salon de réception of her hôtel on the quai Malaquais is provided by the inventory of the procès verbal which accompanied the 1781 sale catalogue, where item 159, located in this room, was described as "une petite table quatre pieds en marqueterie à tiroirs de laque et à dessus de plateau en laque avec un cordon de bronze, prisée 240 livres". At the 1781 sale it was bought for 301 livres by the marchand Dubois and then vanished from sight until appearing at auction in Orléans in 1972.
THE DUCHESSE DE MAZARIN AND THE HOTEL MALAQUAIS
The duchesse de Mazarin was the daughter-in-law of the famous collector and intendant des Menus-Plaisirs Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d'Aumont (1709-1782), and patronized many of the same circle of architects and craftsmen as her father-in-law. She therefor turned to the architects François-Joseph Bélanger and Jean-François Chalgrin to supply designs for the remodeling of her hôtel, and extensively and famously patronized the duc d’Aumont’s favorite bronzier, Pierre Gouthière.
The duchesse de Mazarin’s entertainments were among the most lavish in Paris, and at such an event in the early 1770s, a fête champêtre reputedly costing 80,000 livres, she brought a flock of sheep from her country residence at Chilly. The sheep, when frightened by a dog, reportedly ran amok in the duchesse's dazzling grand salon de réception, culminating with a charging ram shattering many of the prized mirrors. It was perhaps as a result of this fiasco that she embarked on a renovation of her hôtel, including a lavish remodeling of the grand salon. This spectacular room was on the first floor of the corps de logis of the hôtel, occupying the whole width of the building with views onto both the garden and the courtyard. Under the guidance of the architects François-Joseph Bélanger and Jean-François Chalgrin, the room was lavishly appointed in the new ‘arabesque’ style, and indeed the small room through which one entered the grand salon was known as the salon arabesque. The paneling was supplied by Philippe-Joseph Williamé, menuisier en bâtiments, and was carved by Gilles-Paul Cauvet in 1773 and painted by Nicolas Huet in 1776. Elaborately carved frames housed a set of Gobelins tapestries with theatrical scenes after Coypel.
In 1778, Bélanger and Chalgrin supplied the celebrated suite of furniture in bleu turquin marble with superb bronzes by Gouthière, comprising a spectacular side table (now in the Frick Collection, New York, acc. no. 1915.5.59), a pair of pedestals supporting candelabra sculpted by the sculptor Jean-Joseph Foucou, later acquired for Baron James de Rothschild’s palatial château de Ferrières and recently sold from the Rothschild collection, (Christie’s, Paris, 21 November 2023, lot 20, €1,492,000), and a matching fire surround to which Foucou supplied the sculptural uprights. Gouthière also supplied the celebrated wall-lights with blued steel backplates and arms in the form of poppies (now in the Musée du Louvre, inv. no. OA 11995) and a pair of chenets in the form of eagles, now in the collection of the Mobilier National (C. Vignon and C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court, exh. cat., New York, 2016, cat. nos. 22, 26, 39 and 49). The room featured relatively little case furniture, perhaps because of its use for entertaining, but contained several sets of seat furniture, elegantly upholstered in silk in shades of green, grey and white, with a further suite comprising two small canapés and eight fauteuils featured tapestry covers woven at the Gobelins factory by Cozette after designs by Dussaux.
The artistic harmony of the room was remarkable: the ormolu garlands of roses and laurel heading the bleu turquin marble table also featured in the Gobelins seat covers, while the scrolling arabesque frieze of the table matched the cresting of the trumeaux in the room, and the white and green silks elsewhere in the room echoed those of the specially woven Aubusson carpet.
A small group of furniture occupied the center of the room, including a games table with Sèvres porcelain plaques, a small marquetry table by Carlin and the jewel-like lacquer-mounted table offered here, whose delicate form and bold black and gold color scheme must have stood out in this magnificent room. The duchesse's keen taste for sumptuous pieces in Japanese lacquer, shared by other notable collectors including Madame de Pompadour and Queen Marie-Antoinette, is well established, reflected by the beautiful commode by Saunier from her country residence at Chilly (lot 73 in this sale). It was no doubt influenced by the fabled Mazarin lacquer coffer which had been supplied to her family in the seventeenth century (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 412:1,2-1882). Sadly, the duchesse died in 1781 with the renovation still in progress, and her collection was sold later that year, to offset the debts amassed through her extraordinarily lavish remodeling.
A POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION
Although this remarkable table is unsigned, a possible maker is the German-born cabinet-maker Joseph Baumhauer, who supplied other pieces to the duchesse de Mazarin and was renowned for his use of lacquer. Known as Joseph, he was one of the most accomplished and innovative cabinet-makers of the 1750s and 1760s, whose oeuvre reached a level of refinement few of his confrères could rival. He married in Paris in 1747 and was appointed ébéniste privilegié du Roi around 1749. Established in the rue du faubourg Saint Antoine at the sign of the 'Boule Blanche', he worked throughout his career almost exclusively for the marchands-merciers, including Hébert, Heceguerre, Duvaux, Julliot, Héricourt, Darnault and Poirier. A refined use of precious Japanese lacquer is a particular recurring motif of his oeuvre, including the famous commode supplied to the marquis de Marigny, brother of Madame de Pompadour, in 1764 and the exquisite small bureau plat, lot 62 in this sale. He is also recorded as supplying other furniture to the duchesse de Mazarin for the hôtel Malaquais, including a commode à portes and a pair of matching encoignures incorporating Japanese lacquer circa 1770, which were lots 218-219 in the 1781 sale, later in the collection of the dealer Maëlrondt and now in the British Royal collection at Windsor Castle. Joseph successfully bridged the transition from the Rococo and embraced the new Neoclassical style. An interesting feature of his work are details that echo the Régence style of the early eighteenth century, for instance a distinctive retardataire use of foliate framing mounts seen on Régence case furniture, featuring on the frieze of the present table as well as other pieces by Joseph such as the abovementioned suite supplied to the duchesse de Mazarin, and a Boulle bibliothèque basse, sold from the collection of the comte de Vaudreuil in 1787 (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 239, figs. 244-245).