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Lot Essay
Jacques Dubois, maître in 1742.
The 'C' Couronné Poinçon was a tax mark in use between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper.
These superb encoignures, sumptuously veneered in colorful Chinese lacquer and with beautifully chased rocaille mounts, epitomize the taste for the exotic in mid-18th century France. The ingenious and luxurious use of Chinese and Japanese lacquer to decorate pieces of Parisian furniture was the result of the inventiveness of the luxury taste-makers of Paris, the marchand-merciers, who had a monopoly on importing luxury goods such as lacquer and porcelain from Asia and responded with extraordinary imaginativeness to the passion for chinoiserie among collectors throughout the 18th century.
Jacques Dubois (1694 - 1763) worked as an ouvrier privilegié in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine before achieving his maîtrise in 1742 and was thus unfettered by the strict guild regulations endured by his fellow ébénistes. Elected a juré of the guild in 1752, he was one of the most prolific cabinet-makers in the Louis XV period and is known to have collaborated with the marchands-merciers Jean-Jacques Machart, Bertin and Pierre I Migeon, which led to a particular speciality in lacquer pieces, including, bureaux plats, encoignures and commodes. The inventory taken after his death revealed an extensive workshop with twelve workbenches and over one hundred pieces of furniture in various stages of completion.
An encoignure of similar outline by Dubois is at Waddesdon Manor and illustrated in G. De Bellaigue, Furniture, Clocks and Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol.1 pp. 258-259, fig. 57.
ELIZABETH PARKE FIRESTONE (1897-1990)
Born in Decatur, Illinois, Elizabeth Parke Firestone’s ancestors came to New England on the ‘Arbella’ as part of the John Winthrop expedition in 1630. In 1921 she married Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., heir to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and they resided together in Akron, Ohio and at ‘Ocean Lawn’ in Newport, Rhode Island. Mrs. Firestone assembled a renowned collection of 18th century decorative arts, which was particularly rich in Sèvres porcelain and French furniture and a world-famous group of French silver, including iconic pieces by Thomas Germain and his son François-Thomas, Auguste and Roettiers, much of which was generously donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The remaining collection, including these wonderful encoignures, was sold in a landmark sale at Christie’s New York in 1991. Other lots in this sale that hail from the collection of Mrs. Firestone include lot 84, 87, and 88.
The 'C' Couronné Poinçon was a tax mark in use between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper.
These superb encoignures, sumptuously veneered in colorful Chinese lacquer and with beautifully chased rocaille mounts, epitomize the taste for the exotic in mid-18th century France. The ingenious and luxurious use of Chinese and Japanese lacquer to decorate pieces of Parisian furniture was the result of the inventiveness of the luxury taste-makers of Paris, the marchand-merciers, who had a monopoly on importing luxury goods such as lacquer and porcelain from Asia and responded with extraordinary imaginativeness to the passion for chinoiserie among collectors throughout the 18th century.
Jacques Dubois (1694 - 1763) worked as an ouvrier privilegié in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine before achieving his maîtrise in 1742 and was thus unfettered by the strict guild regulations endured by his fellow ébénistes. Elected a juré of the guild in 1752, he was one of the most prolific cabinet-makers in the Louis XV period and is known to have collaborated with the marchands-merciers Jean-Jacques Machart, Bertin and Pierre I Migeon, which led to a particular speciality in lacquer pieces, including, bureaux plats, encoignures and commodes. The inventory taken after his death revealed an extensive workshop with twelve workbenches and over one hundred pieces of furniture in various stages of completion.
An encoignure of similar outline by Dubois is at Waddesdon Manor and illustrated in G. De Bellaigue, Furniture, Clocks and Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol.1 pp. 258-259, fig. 57.
ELIZABETH PARKE FIRESTONE (1897-1990)
Born in Decatur, Illinois, Elizabeth Parke Firestone’s ancestors came to New England on the ‘Arbella’ as part of the John Winthrop expedition in 1630. In 1921 she married Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., heir to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and they resided together in Akron, Ohio and at ‘Ocean Lawn’ in Newport, Rhode Island. Mrs. Firestone assembled a renowned collection of 18th century decorative arts, which was particularly rich in Sèvres porcelain and French furniture and a world-famous group of French silver, including iconic pieces by Thomas Germain and his son François-Thomas, Auguste and Roettiers, much of which was generously donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The remaining collection, including these wonderful encoignures, was sold in a landmark sale at Christie’s New York in 1991. Other lots in this sale that hail from the collection of Mrs. Firestone include lot 84, 87, and 88.