A Closer Look: Spotlight on French Royal Furniture by Jean

Transcription

A Closer Look: Spotlight on French Royal Furniture
by Jean-Henri Riesener
Introduction
The chest of drawers is a familiar object today, but when these three pieces were made, in the
1770s, they were at the forefront of design. Richly decorated and extremely expensive, they
represented the pinnacle of luxury, available only to a powerful few. The two chests displayed in
the centre of the room were made for the sister and sister-in-law of the French king, Louis XVI
(reigned 1774-1791). We do not know who ordered the third, but it is similar to one made for
the king himself.
The chest of drawers - or commode – emerged as a type of furniture in France around 1690. The
form probably developed from flat desks with drawers. ‘Commode’ literally means ‘convenient’
and, according to contemporary dictionaries, these chests were used for the storage of linen and
clothes. However the top retained a desk-like function, for example, as a surface on which to
consult papers or to display vases and small sculptures. Often positioned below a mirror and
complementing a fireplace of the same height, chests of drawers played a central role in elaborate
decorative schemes.
This display provides a rare opportunity to look in 360º at objects normally placed against walls.
Discover the stories of their commissions, learn how furniture was made and explore in detail
the work of one of the greatest cabinet-makers of this period, Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806).
The display marks the beginning of a research project - in collaboration with the Wallace
Collection and the Royal Collection - which aims to learn more about Riesener, the techniques
and materials he used, and the world of buying and making furniture in 18th-century France.
1
Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806)
Chest of drawers, c 1775-c 1780
Oak carcase and drawers, veneered with purpleheart and mahogany, with marquetry of
casuarina, sycamore, boxwood, ebony, holly, burl woods and other woods, with giltbronze mounts and marble top
We do not know who first owned this chest of drawers. The initials surrounding the lock have
not been identified and differ in colour from the gilding on the rest of this piece, suggesting that
they may have been added later. The chest is stamped four times by Riesener - on each corner of
the top beneath the marble - and it is very similar to one he supplied for Louis XVI’s study at the
Petit Trianon, Versailles, in 1777.
Left: Jean-Henri Riesener, chest of drawers supplied for Louis XVI’s study at the Petit Trianon, 1777,
Versailles, châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, V5198 ©˙RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) /
Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans. Right: Detail of Riesener’s stamp on the left-hand rear corner of the
top.
2
Parts of the chest of drawers were produced by a number of specialist craftsmen. As with all
cabinet-makers of the period, the precise role that Riesener played in the construction of pieces
stamped by him is difficult to determine. We can assume that he was the chief designer and
project manager behind their invention, and carefully planned each of the elements that came
together in the finished piece.
WOOD
With the drawer pulled out, the solid oak structure is revealed beneath the veneers of European
and exotic woods used to decorated the surface. Most of the woodwork would have been done
in Riesener’s workshop, but a number of tasks were probably subcontracted to jobbing
craftsmen. The central panel, depicting a trophy symbolising Force and Abundance, spans both
drawers and disguises the divide between them. It was produced in marquetry, a technique for
making designs from small pieces of veneers called “painting in wood” in the 18th century.
Today the marquetry is in subtle shades of brown but originally it was very bright. The colours
of the woods, both natural and dyed, could deteriorate rapidly. Pigments can change colour
under the influence of heat, light, or water, or through reaction with other materials. The records
of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (the department responsible for furnishing the royal
household) show that Riesener was summoned to Versailles to “brighten” the marquetry on
furniture he had delivered just a few years earlier. This involved stripping away the top layer to
reveal the unchanged wood underneath. This could be done a maximum of three or four times
before the thin veneers would be scraped away completely. In some cases whole pieces had to be
reveneered.
3
METAL
Some of the metal elements have been removed from the drawer. These 'mounts' serve both
functional and decorative purposes - as handles, sculptural embellishments, or frames to divide
up the surface decoration. The gilding would have sparkled in flickering candlelight.
Unlike the woodwork, the metal parts were probably not made in Riesener's workshop. There
was a strict system of trade guilds in France that prevented anyone from practicing a trade that
they had not been apprenticed in, or practicing more than one trade in a workshop. Riesener was
made cabinet-maker to the king in 1774, a position which gave him some freedom from guild
restrictions, but there is no evidence that he had bronzes cast in his own workshop.
Research suggests that Riesener designed the mounts for his furniture himself and was
knowledgeable about metalwork. The location of his workshop - in the Royal Arsenal - gave him
access to the skilled workers who made weapons. His predecessor Jean-François Oeben (17211763), who had a passion for metalwork, installed a locksmith’s forge, which Riesener continued
to use to make locks and other mechanical parts. Oeben and Riesener developed ways of
attaching some mounts from inside the carcase, by soldering pegs onto the back of the mounts,
so that the front was less interrupted by screws.
As detachable elements, mounts could be changed to replace damaged parts or to bring a piece
of furniture up to date with a new fashion. The records of the Garde-Meuble show that Riesener
was occasionally paid to add or replace such mounts, particularly handles.
4
MARBLE
The marble slab on top of the chest of drawers was created by a specialist stonecutter. The cost
of the marble slab was substantial and was listed separately in the furniture deliveries to the
Garde-Meuble.
The slabs are extremely heavy and demonstrate the strength of the carcases. Riesener had to
adjust the top of the chest of drawers he made for the bedroom of Louis XVI at the palace of
Versailles because the marble was so heavy that it interfered with opening the drawers.
There was a wide range of French and foreign marbles available and the three chests displayed
here show the variety of colours and patterns. The large slabs were often chosen to coordinate
with marble elsewhere in a room, especially fireplaces.
5
Chest of drawers, 1776
Oak carcase, veneered in purpleheart, with marquetry of tulipwood, mahogany,
sycamore, ebony, boxwood, casuarina, holly and burl wood, with gilt-bronze mounts and
marble top
The comtesse de Provence (1753-1810), sister-in-law of Louis XVI, ordered this chest of
drawers from Riesener on 8 February 1776 and it was delivered to her apartment in Versailles
the following month. This was astonishingly fast for such a complex piece of furniture.
COMTESSE DE PROVENCE
Born Marie-Joséphine Louise of Savoy, the comtesse had married Louis XVI’s brother, Louis
Stanislas Xavier (1755-1824), in 1771. Their wedding set a standard of luxury that would
characterise their lives at court, and they competed with the king and queen to have the most
splendid household. The comte de Provence was only 18 years old when he acquired the
sophisticated roll-top desk by Riesener (now in the Morning Room at Waddesdon). The couple
6
emigrated during the French Revolution and spent many years travelling across Europe. They
finally settled at Hartwell House, just four miles from Waddesdon. The comte was proclaimed
King by the exiled French court in 1795 but the comtesse died in England before they could
return to France.
Left : Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier d'Agoty (1740-1786), Marie-Joséphine de Savoie (1753-1810), comtesse de
Provence, oil on canvas, 1777, Versailles, châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, inv. no. MV7852. © RMN Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot. Right : Jean-Henri Riesener, roll-top desk made for
the comte de Provence, 1774, Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust), acc. no. 2576
THE COMMISSION
The comtesse was 23 when she commissioned this chest of drawers. She and her husband
occupied an apartment reserved for the heirs of France until 1787, when the birth of the king's
son pushed the comte further down the line of succession.
On 8 February 1776, Riesener presented the comtesse with a drawing of the chest of drawers
and measured the space where it would sit. She demanded that the piece be delivered as
7
promptly as possible, and it was brought to her bedroom the following month. Comparable
pieces usually took around 6 months from order to delivery.
Beneath the marquetry on the front of the drawers there is another layer of veneer in what
appears to be an exotic and expensive wood, suggesting that Riesener may have veneered on top
of existing panels in order speed up production.
SETTING A TREND
The comtesse de Provence was known for her lavish, fashionable tastes. This bespoke piece of
furniture seems to have set a trend. Four others, with similar marquetry depicting vases of
flowers, were delivered by Riesener within the space of a year to other prominent courtiers. The
comtesse's chest of drawers was by far the most expensive of this type. In fact, it was the most
expensive piece of furniture produced by Riesener for the Crown in 1776. It cost 7864 livres, plus
386 livres for the marble top, even more than the chest of drawers made for the king’s private
study at Fontainebleau. It was nine times the price
of standard veneered chests of drawers decorated
with bronze mounts.
On delivery, the chest of drawers was recorded in
the journal of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne
(the furnishing administration of the royal
household). You can see the number assigned to
the piece (N°2842) on the backboard.
Left: Description of the chest of drawers in the records
of the Garde-Meuble, 8 February 1776, Archives
Nationales de France, O113625
8
Chest of drawers, 1778
Oak carcase, veneered with purpleheart and mahogany with marquetry of sycamore,
boxwood, holly, ebony, mahogany, casuarina and burl wood, with gilt-bronze mounts
and marble top
This chest of drawers was delivered to the king's sister Madame
Elisabeth (1764-1794) at Versailles on 27 September 1778.
Madame Elisabeth was the youngest sibling of Louis XVI.
Orphaned at the age of three, she was raised in the royal
household at the Palace of Versailles. The princess never
married, and was supported by the king and queen for the rest
of her life. Like her brother, Madame Elisabeth was guillotined
during the French Revolution.
Above: Engraving of Madame Elisabeth at 14, Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The National
Trust), acc. no. 8514
9
COMING OF AGE
Given to Madame Elisabeth when she was only 14 years old, this chest of drawers marked a rite
of passage. Too old to share an apartment with the king and queen’s young children, she was
presented at court and given her own household of 15 ladies-in-waiting and rooms befitting a
Daughter of France. Her nine rooms were spread across two floors with large windows
overlooking the gardens.
After extensive refurbishment, Madame Elisabeth moved into her new apartments between 1778
and 1780. All the furnishings were ordered specially for the young princess from MarieAntoinette’s favourite designers and workshops. In the space of one month, Riesener supplied
49 pieces to furnish Madame Elisabeth’s rooms, including this chest of drawers, which was
destined for her bedroom. Waddesdon also houses a small writing table by Riesener that formed
part of the same order.
Left: Floorplan of the upper floor of Madame Elisabeth’s apartment on the Aile du Midi, Palace of
Versailles, Archives Nationales, VA. Box XXVII No40. Right: Jean-Henri Riesener, writing table
delivered delivered to Madame Elisabeth’s apartment, 1778, Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The
National Trust), acc. no. 5237.
10
The central panel on the chest of drawers is
decorated with an impressive trophy in
marquetry, featuring an antique urn and
shepherd’s crook alongside a basket of
peaches, leaves and flowers. A chest of
drawers supplied by Riesener for the king at
Fontainebleau (now at the Palace of
Versailles) shares the same imagery.
Above: Jean-Henri Riesener, chest of drawers supplied for Louis XVI at Fontainebleau, 1778, Versailles,
châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, inv. no. V5885. © RMN - Grand Palais (Château de Versailles)
/Franck Raux
MADAME ELISABETH’S BEDROOM
In the winter, the upholstered furniture and screens in Madame Elisabeth's bedroom were
covered with crimson velvet; in the summer, with green silk. This colourful chest of drawers
would have matched both schemes. The green marble top coordinated with the fireplace in the
room. Green features prominently in the veneered decoration, for example the urn in the central
panel which imitates precious jasper. The stained wood has discoloured over time and would
have been much brighter.
11
Ingenious constructions
The standard of engineering and joinery in Riesener’s furniture is consistently high. The carcases
of these pieces are made of oak, traditionally the strongest and noblest wood for case furniture.
The weight-bearing structures are constructed from timber cut radially from the centre of the log
to the outer edge, which gives maximum strength. The curved sides and fronts of the drawers
are made up of narrow strips of oak, glued together and veneered, to produce smooth, strong
curves.
A cabinet-maker would often buy large amounts of seasoned wood from a timber merchant and
pay for “long-sawyers” to recut the wood in his workshop to specific dimensions. The quality of
wood varied. For example, the chest of drawers made for the comtesse de Provence displays
shrinkage cracks not seen on Madame Elisabeth’s version, suggesting that the wood was not
properly seasoned.
Even for expensive commissions such as these, Riesener’s workshop used materials
economically: wood marked by discolouration, knots, and saw marks is deployed in less visible
areas.
Left: Long-sawyers cutting timber,
from L’Art du menuisier, a multivolume book by André-Jacob
Roubo (1739–1791), published
between 1769 and 1774, a valuable
source for understanding furniture
making in Riesener’s time.
Bibliothéque nationale de France,
département Réserve des livres
rares, V-3972.
12
Making marquetry
The marquetry panels on these pieces were constructed separately before being glued onto the
carcase. Each panel is a mosaic formed of small pieces of wood veneers glued on to a 3-4mm
thick oak substrate. There was a huge range of woods available, including expensive species from
the ‘New World’, chosen for colour, pattern and ease of workmanship. Woods could also be
stained using a variety of materials, with greens and blues, not naturally found in wood,
particularly prized. Hot sand was used to burn shadows.
The design for a marquetry panel was first drawn on paper and simplified into parts which were
used as templates to cut the veneers. Occasionally new designs were commissioned from artists,
but in most cases they were created by combining elements from existing sources. One volume
of prints known to have been used by Riesener is the Livre de Principes de Fleurs (published after
1755), a drawing manual containing engravings after drawings of flowers by Louis Tessier. Two
lilies on the central panel of the comtesse de Provence’s chest of drawers are based on plate
no.34 in the series, with one of the flowers reversed. The posthumous inventory of the
workshop of Riesener’s master Oeben included a box of pre-cut marquetry flowers, suggesting
that elements were prefabricated and assembled into new compositions when needed.
These engravings from
Roubo’s L’Art de
Menuisier show the
process through which a
floral design was turned
into a marquetry panel.
Bibliothéque nationale
de France, département
Réserve des livres rares,
V-3975(1).
13
Left and centre: Livres on the comtesse de Provence’s chest of drawers and the corresponding flowers
from Livre de Principes de Fleurs (Wellcome Trust Library, EPB 15874/C). Right: “Fret-work” marquetry
from the side panel of the comtesse de Provence’s chest of drawers.
As well as flowers, Riesener’s workshop excelled in the imitation of precious stones and the
creation of geometric patterns. Two of the chests of drawers feature the fret-work marquetry
that was a particular speciality, recalling the decoration of Japanese lacquer, popular in France
since the 17th century.
Creating gilt-bronze mounts
Cast and gilded metal mounts were applied to French furniture for decorative and functional
purposes from the late 17th to the early 19th century. On the chests of drawers mounts are
deployed as drawer handles and as feet (or sabots). At the corners and lower edges they prevent
damage from knocking, and as lock-plates they protect the veneer from being scratched by keys.
Although referred to as bronzes, the casting metal was not the same as modern bronze, which is
an alloy of copper and tin. Recent technical innovations have allowed conservators to analyse the
composition of the metal using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The mounts on these
pieces, like the majority from the period, were cast in brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.
14
The manufacture of gilt-bronze mounts involved several different processes carried out by
specialist craftsmen. The complex production system was perfected by Paris furniture makers
and was not found elsewhere in Europe at the time when these chests of drawers were made.
15
Henri-François Riesener (1767-1828)
Portrait of Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), 1800
Oil on canvas
Waddesdon, Rothschild Collections (Rothschild Family Trusts)
This newly-acquired portrait of Jean-Henri Riesener was painted by his son, Henri-François
Riesener. Henri-François trained at the Académie Royale before the French Revolution and
exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1793. He fought in the Revolutionary wars but left the
army to resume painting, exhibiting again at the Salon of 1799. This painting depicts the cabinetmaker near the end of his life, after the family fortune had disappeared with the Old Regime.
The plain background focuses our attention on the face, scrutinised in moving detail and on the
frank, penetrating gaze. The open-necked shirt and unkempt appearance hint at the intimacy of
this particular sitting, but is also a conventional way of depicting an artist.
16
RIESENER: A CHRONOLOGY
Like many 18th-century Parisian furniture makers, Riesener came from Germany. He had
spectacular success, becoming official cabinet-maker to the king in 1774. The chests of drawers
displayed here date from the height of his career.
4 July 1734
Born in Gladbeck in the Rhineland near Cologne, Germany
Around 1748
Probably apprenticed to a workshop in Germany
1754
Moves to Paris and finds work as a journeyman with another cabinet-maker
from the Rhineland, Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), a favourite supplier of
furniture to Madame de Pompadour, the official mistress of Louis XV.
Oeben’s workshop, in the Royal Arsenal, was free from many of the guild
restrictions of most craftsmen in France
1763
Oeben dies and his widow chooses Riesener to take charge of the workshop
August 1767
Riesener marries Oeben’s widow
23 January 1768 Admitted as a master of the guild of ébénistes (cabinet-makers)
1769
Begins to supply the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (the furnishing
administration of the royal household) and completes Oeben’s commissions,
among them the bureau du roi of Louis XV
10 May 1774
Death of Louis XV, accession of Louis XVI
17
July 1774
Receives the official title of Ébéniste du Roi, (Cabinet-maker to the King) after
buying up the stock of the previous holder of the post Gilles Joubert (16891775)
1774-1784
Huge success as the foremost supplier of furniture to the French court and
distinguished private clients; paid 938,000 livres for furniture delivered to the
Garde-Meuble (the salary of a skilled cabinet-maker averaged 600 livres)
1784
Begins to fall from official favour, due in part to the scaling back of the
Garde-Meuble under the new director Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville d’Avray
(1732–92), but remains the favourite cabinet-maker of Marie-Antoinette, who
continues to order furniture from him until the French Revolution
1789
Reversal of fortunes with the fall of the Old Regime in the French Revolution.
Buys back some of his most famous pieces in the hope of selling them on, but
taste and buyers had changed
1794
Carries out the removal of royal insignia from his own works, which had been
retained by the State under the First Republic, including the bureau du roi
1795-9
Continues to produce some furniture under the Directoire but it is
undistinguished and no longer in keeping with French taste
1801
Retires
January 1806
Dies in Paris aged 71
18
Acknowledgements
The curators would like to thank the following for their help with the preparation, design and
installation of the exhibition: Colin Bailey, Vincent Bastien, Alexis Borde, Max Coppoletta,
Fréderic D’Arras, Mike Fear, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Jürgen Huber, Helen Jacobson, Lindsay
Macnaughton, David Mlinaric, Miriam Schefzyk, Christoph Vogtherr, and the Collections,
Facilities, IT and Marketing Departments.
19

A Closer Look: Spotlight on French Royal Furniture by Jean

Transcription

Similar documents

Visit Furnish 123 inside of Waterfront Bargain Centers and discover

R9008928123 Raaco Dulapuri pentru depozit 928-123

romberger 10SKLI 80566221

`Tyci Tavoli series of tables` product card

Jamestown Convertible Crib Instruction Booklet

“ Sawdust runs through my veins. I am doing what I was meant to do.”

kustaa saksi

apartment 6.8 6th / 7th floor | 3 rooms | 106.7 m2

Amberly Accent Chest: Item # 843938 / Model