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Lot Essay
René Dubois, maître in 1757.
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark applied to alloys containing copper, between March 1745 and February 1749.
René Dubois (d. 1792) is believed to have been the cousin of the other René Dubois (1737-1799, maître in 1755), the son of Jacques Dubois (1693-1763, maître in 1742). He is known to have stamped some of his furniture, including a lacquer tric-trac table in the Octave Homberg collection, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3 June 1931, lot 304 (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1998, p. 283). The cousins' stamps can be differentiated as René, son of Jacques Dubois, continued to use his father's stamp, 'I DUBOIS', after his death.
A similar tric-trac table by Jacques Dubois was formerly in the collection of Charles and Jayne Wrightsman, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 5 May 1984, lot 224 and then at Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, lot 28 (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Connecticut, 1966, vol. I, pp. 225-226, no. 11). Further closely related but unstamped tric-trac tables were sold anonymously, Million et Associés, Paris, 9 April 1998, lot 108 and offered anonymously, Bukowskis, Stockholm, 28-30 May 1997, lot 433.
Backgammon, or tric-trac (the French name deriving from the sound of shaking the dice), was an extremely popular game in France during the 18th century and this elegant table exemplifies the passion for games of all types. According to L'Académie Universelle des Jeux (Paris, 1730), tables de tric-trac were not only used for backgammon, but also for a wide variety of games such as revertier, toute table, dames rabattues, toc and others (Watson, op. cit., p. 226). These games were the main indoor pastime of Louis XV's court and the duc de Luynes, chronicler of daily life at court, would actually record the rare days when the King did not play.
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark applied to alloys containing copper, between March 1745 and February 1749.
René Dubois (d. 1792) is believed to have been the cousin of the other René Dubois (1737-1799, maître in 1755), the son of Jacques Dubois (1693-1763, maître in 1742). He is known to have stamped some of his furniture, including a lacquer tric-trac table in the Octave Homberg collection, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3 June 1931, lot 304 (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1998, p. 283). The cousins' stamps can be differentiated as René, son of Jacques Dubois, continued to use his father's stamp, 'I DUBOIS', after his death.
A similar tric-trac table by Jacques Dubois was formerly in the collection of Charles and Jayne Wrightsman, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 5 May 1984, lot 224 and then at Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, lot 28 (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Connecticut, 1966, vol. I, pp. 225-226, no. 11). Further closely related but unstamped tric-trac tables were sold anonymously, Million et Associés, Paris, 9 April 1998, lot 108 and offered anonymously, Bukowskis, Stockholm, 28-30 May 1997, lot 433.
Backgammon, or tric-trac (the French name deriving from the sound of shaking the dice), was an extremely popular game in France during the 18th century and this elegant table exemplifies the passion for games of all types. According to L'Académie Universelle des Jeux (Paris, 1730), tables de tric-trac were not only used for backgammon, but also for a wide variety of games such as revertier, toute table, dames rabattues, toc and others (Watson, op. cit., p. 226). These games were the main indoor pastime of Louis XV's court and the duc de Luynes, chronicler of daily life at court, would actually record the rare days when the King did not play.