Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
REQUEST INFORMATION
Bronze and Vernis Martin Spinning Wheel, Paris, circa 1750
A very fine bronze spinning wheel, finely engraved and gilded.
The Vernis Martin top is decorated with Chinese figures in traditional costumes in a lakeside landscape.
The wheel and pilasters are turned baluster-shaped.
The reel and wheel handle are made of boxwood, and the original distaff is made of walnut.
A rare bell and hammer mechanism that strikes every 100 revolutions.
Work of a Parisian haberdasher during the Louis XV period, circa 1740.
Dimensions:
Height: 46.5 cm; Width: 30 cm; Depth: 13.5 cm
A similar spinning wheel is featured on page 86 of the book "The Secrets of French Lacquer, Vernis Martin," published by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Our opinion:
Positioned on the lap, this type of miniature spinning wheel allowed one to spin silk peacefully in the living room during long winter evenings.
This instrument, once the preserve of noblewomen, was sold by mercers.
These merchants assembled the products of several trades: bronze founders and engravers, a wood turner for the reel, sometimes a clockmaker for the counting mechanism, and finally a cabinetmaker or varnisher for the decoration of the spinning top.
The renowned workshop of the Martin brothers produced this type of piece for at least twenty years, from the 1730s to the 1770s. They are indeed listed in the workshop's catalog until the death of Etienne-Simon Martin in 1770, or they appear in his post-mortem inventory.
They are also found in the inventory of the famous haberdasher Lazare Duvaux, drawn up in Paris on November 29, 1758.
It is also highly probable that the capital's largest haberdasher collaborated closely with the finest varnishing workshop, run by the Martin brothers.
