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Lot Essay
This pair of richly embellished ormolu-mounted mahogany bookcases epitomise the Empire style, made fashionable under Napoléon I and through the designs of Percier and Fontaine (published in 1801 and 1812 in Recueil de décorations intérierures). Examples of the Napoleonic style are found in the furniture ordered in the first decade of the 19th century by the Garde-meuble impérial from craftsmen such as Thomire Duterme et Cie, les frères Jacob and F.H.G. Jacob-Desmalter for the Grand Trianon and the château de Fontainebleau (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon: Meubles et objéts d’art, tome I, Paris, 1975, p. 31, p. 68; J-P Samoyault, Meubles entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 2004, p. 163, p. 166, p. 183).
These bookcases are perhaps the finest known furniture executed by Othon Kolping (1775-1853), the menuisier-ébéniste and scieur à la mécanique. Records in the Archives Nationales show that between 1811-13 he was working for the Garde-meuble in the refurbishment of the imperial palaces, le palais de Rohan, Bordeaux and le château de Marracq, Bayonne. In 1811, he supplied three couchettes for the important sum of 400 F, and in 1837, two mahogany commodes with four drawers and turned feet for 120 F, mahogany shelves and a marble-top console table for 75 F, secrétaires, commodes and daybeds (archives nationales, O/2/513, no. 8; Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p. 392).
Kolping (or Colping) established his workshop in 1804 at no. 3 cour de la Juiverie, place Saint-Antoine, Paris (ibid.). Little is known of his patrons although furniture bearing his stamp is present in the Mobilier national, private collections and has been sold at auction suggesting that he made a range of furniture from rich and opulent pieces, exemplified by the present bookcases, to plainer, more functional furniture. His reputation was evidently such that in 1821, the Bazar parisien reported: il peut être mis au nombre des bon fabricants d’ébénisterie; depuis dix-sept ans il s’occupe de cette partie. Il a exécuté quelques beaux ouvrages, tells que: comptoirs, armoires et bibliothèques. Il a inventé plusieurs genres de lits dans les forms les plus agréables. Il fait scier chez lui les bois d;acajou et les vend au détail (ibid.). In 1823, he exhibited a secrétaire à cylindre, a secrétaire à balustre, an armoire and a bed at L’Exposition des produits de l’industrie française where he obtained a mention honorable for ‘les meubles plaqués bien exécutés’. In 1827, again he exhibited furniture and received the same distinction, the jury noting: ‘Ses bureaux à cylindre et ses armoires à glaces enrichies de bronze doré sont d’un bel effet’ (ibid.). Interestingly, given the glazed panels on the front of these bookcases, Kolping was among the first to supply armoires à glace.
These bookcases are perhaps the finest known furniture executed by Othon Kolping (1775-1853), the menuisier-ébéniste and scieur à la mécanique. Records in the Archives Nationales show that between 1811-13 he was working for the Garde-meuble in the refurbishment of the imperial palaces, le palais de Rohan, Bordeaux and le château de Marracq, Bayonne. In 1811, he supplied three couchettes for the important sum of 400 F, and in 1837, two mahogany commodes with four drawers and turned feet for 120 F, mahogany shelves and a marble-top console table for 75 F, secrétaires, commodes and daybeds (archives nationales, O/2/513, no. 8; Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p. 392).
Kolping (or Colping) established his workshop in 1804 at no. 3 cour de la Juiverie, place Saint-Antoine, Paris (ibid.). Little is known of his patrons although furniture bearing his stamp is present in the Mobilier national, private collections and has been sold at auction suggesting that he made a range of furniture from rich and opulent pieces, exemplified by the present bookcases, to plainer, more functional furniture. His reputation was evidently such that in 1821, the Bazar parisien reported: il peut être mis au nombre des bon fabricants d’ébénisterie; depuis dix-sept ans il s’occupe de cette partie. Il a exécuté quelques beaux ouvrages, tells que: comptoirs, armoires et bibliothèques. Il a inventé plusieurs genres de lits dans les forms les plus agréables. Il fait scier chez lui les bois d;acajou et les vend au détail (ibid.). In 1823, he exhibited a secrétaire à cylindre, a secrétaire à balustre, an armoire and a bed at L’Exposition des produits de l’industrie française where he obtained a mention honorable for ‘les meubles plaqués bien exécutés’. In 1827, again he exhibited furniture and received the same distinction, the jury noting: ‘Ses bureaux à cylindre et ses armoires à glaces enrichies de bronze doré sont d’un bel effet’ (ibid.). Interestingly, given the glazed panels on the front of these bookcases, Kolping was among the first to supply armoires à glace.