A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH MEUBLE D'APPUI

BY JACQUES DAUTRICHE, CIRCA 1770

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH MEUBLE D'APPUI
BY JACQUES DAUTRICHE, CIRCA 1770
The concave-sided and stepped bardiglio marble top above a frieze drawer with Vitruvian scrolls flanked by husks, above a pair of glazed panelled doors enclosing one adjustable shelf, flanked by fluted pilasters headed by a rosette, the plinth decorated with squared rosettes, stamped 'J.DAUTRICHE' once and 'JME' twice, with chalk mark '91603' to the rear and a label inscribed 'LE GARDE MEUBLE PUBLIC / 17 Rue Monsigny-PARIS / 91609 / BEDEL & Cie', and a further label to the drawer inscribed 'no. 4165'
38 ½ in. (98 cm.) high; 63 in. (160 cm.) wide; 19 ½ in. (49. cm.) deep

Provenance

The collection of Raoul Ancel, Paris.

Lot Essay

Jacques Van Oostenryk, dit Dautriche, maître in May 1765.
DAUTRICHE
The Dutchman Jacques van Oostenrijk, was born in the Netherlands between 1725-1728 and arrived in Paris in around 1743. He worked for some 20 years before attaining his maîtrise in 1765 - a delay largely due to the fact that it was difficult for foreigners to amass the requisite fees and meet the stringent requirements of the guild. He worked as an ouvrier libre and in the 1750s worked for other craftsmen such as Pierre II Migeon and Denis Genty, specialising in marquetry. The similarity between Dautriche's work and that of Jean-François Oeben - the marquetry, mounts and overall forms of furniture - would suggest that he worked for the latter in addition. After achieving his maîtrise he moved into a more prestigious location in the rue Traversière, moving towards the end of his life to the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Through the marriage of one his children he became allied with Pierre Boichod (ébéniste privilégié du roi) whose establishment was near to that of Joseph Baumhauer, one of the most talented and progressive craftsmen of the period. Dautriche did not become a dealer and spent his entire career as an ébéniste; his most important commission was for the Comte d'Artois for whom he made ten commodes for the Palais du Temple between June and September 1777. Upon his death in 1778, his workshop was taken over by his widow Elizabeth Hannot and son Thomas-Jacques Dautriche, who was later to take part in the storming of the Bastille.

The present cabinet, with its strong architectural form of Vitruvian-scrolled frieze supported by fluted pilasters and concave sides, closely resembles several other pieces by Dautriche including:
- a meuble d'appui, the doors and sides veneered with parquetry of flower-filled octagons, sold from the Ricardo Espirito Santo Collection, Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 14 June 1977, lot 122, and again anonymously (restored), Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 18 March 1980, lot 150.
- a meuble d’appui attributed to Dautriche, of the same form but slightly narrower and with panels of lattice parquetry in imitation of straw-work to the doors and sides, formerly in the collection of Madame Burat, sold Paris, 17 June 1937, lot 139 and subsequently at Christie’s, London, 14 December 2000, lot 202 (£223,750).
These two cabinets and the present cabinet share the same concave sides, Vitruvian scrolled frieze mounts and large rectangular rosettes on the bases of the fluted pilasters. While the first cabinet has pilasters set at an angle, the second is conceived in the same architectural way as the present cabinet, with the pilasters set to the front. An encoignure by Dautriche, illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 223 D, has a Vitruvian-scrolled frieze and fluted pilasters with similar square rosettes to their bases, and was possibly made en suite with the Espirito Santo cabinet (see also M. Blaise, ‘Jacques Dautriche ébéniste sous Louis XV et Louis XVI’, L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, July-August, 2001, pp. 50-51, figs. 10 & 11; Blaise refers to a group of around twelve such cabinets by Dautriche, each of architectural design with a variety of veneers and inlays).

Dautriche was certainly among the first ébénistes to introduce the new neo-Classical style – the ‘goût grec’ – to France. The similarities to the celebrated bureau plat supplied by Joseph to Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully for L'Hotel de la rue St. Honoré are clear: an overall architectural form, heavily rectilinear, with a Vitruvian-scrolled frieze supported by fluted column legs headed by paterae (ibid, p. 449 C). Having been inspired by Charles-Nicolas Cochin, who published his article 'La supplication aux orfèvres, sculpteurs en bois,' in the Mercure de France in December 1754, the ‘Greek taste’ was relatively short-lived. Written on Cochin’s return from Italy, it bemoaned the excesses of the rococo style and gave birth to the nascent neoclassical style which was realised from 1757 in the work of Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain. This severe reaction lasted only until circa 1765-1770 when, bowing to the criticisms of Blondel and Cochin himself, it gave way to the less aesthetically demanding Transitional style.

Raoul Ancel was one of the most important dealers and experts in furniture and works of art in Paris during the first half of the 20th century, at the Quai Voltaire. With a focus on works of art from the 18th century, he himself was a collector and items from his collection were donated to the Louvre by his descendants, including a magnificent pietra dura and ormolu-mounted ebony and amaranth secrétaire à abattant by Martin Carlin, gifted in 1988 (OA 11176). He was also a key figure in the preservation of works of art from Reims Cathedral in 1918.

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