Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
A beautiful and rare pair of corner cabinets, each opening with a single door.
The fronts and uprights are curved in both plan and elevation, with two cabriole feet joined by a shaped rail.
The doors feature a rich decoration in Martin varnish, gold, silver, and copper, on a black lacquer background.
This decoration depicts lively port scenes with traditional houses, watchtowers, and rare, finely executed European galleons.
Original bronze feet and keyhole escutcheons.
Oak backs and shelves; the reverses of the doors are veneered in rosewood.
Stamped L.BOUDIN and JME on the tops of the uprights.*
Original "Breccia d'Alep*" marble tops with double moldings.
Excellent condition.
Work by Léonard Boudin in Paris, Louis XV period, circa 1760.
Dimensions:
Height: 96 cm; Width (sides): 52 cm
Our opinion:
Our pair of corner cabinets is a very fine example of the work of Léonard Boudin, who, during the reign of Louis XV, produced numerous pieces of furniture decorated with Martin varnish, imitating Chinese lacquer.
His designs often echo those of large screens made in the Orient for export, and it is extremely rare to see European galleons amidst these traditional Asian landscapes.
These ships symbolize the warm southern seas, travel and trade with Asia, and perfectly reflect the exotic taste that swept through France in the mid-18th century.
Our two corner cabinets were found in their original condition at the Château de Renancourt, located in Villemeux-sur-Eure, the château for which they were likely commissioned in the 1760s.
Indeed, the post-mortem inventory of the furniture of Lord François Jérôme Chaban de Laborie, drawn up at the château on October 14, 1779, mentions two corner cabinets as well as a lacquered commode:
"A commode with two large lacquered drawers, adorned with gilt copper mounts and a Portoro marble top, and two lacquered corner cabinets also adorned with gilt copper mounts and a Portoro marble top, valued together at one thousand livres."
The mention of a Portoro marble top could be due to a replacement of the original marble or simply an error by the recorder, a common occurrence at that time.
This latter hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the existence of a commode that was sold at auction on September 15, 2016, at McArthur Khon in Paris.
Stamped Boudin, it is topped with the same Aleppo marble with double moldings and features an identical decoration combining Chinese pagodas and European ships.
Prized along with the pair of corner cabinets, it most certainly formed the set described in the inventory.
This set is characteristic of the large furniture orders received by the marchands-merciers (merchants of luxury goods) at this time and demonstrates the rise of Léonard Boudin, who would become one of the greatest furniture suppliers during the reign of Louis XVI.
*Léonard Boudin (1735-1804), who became a master craftsman on March 4, 1761, was an important cabinetmaker and marchand-mercier of the second half of the 18th century.
In addition to his own production, notably floral marquetry and Chinese varnishes in the purest Louis XV style, he owned a shop between the Louvre and the Palais Royal, where he sold the works of his colleagues to a wealthy clientele.
His taste was very varied but always of the highest caliber.
The presence of double stamps on several pieces of furniture confirms these various collaborations.
His personal production is to be found in the Louis XV style; the majority of his Transition and Louis XVI pieces were subcontracted. Moreover, from 1777 onward, Léonard Boudin no longer appears as a cabinetmaker but only as a merchant (Merchant Mercier) in trade almanacs.
*Aleppo breccia is one of the finest French marbles.
It is composed of angular fragments, yellow, orange, gray, and brown, inlaid in a light yellow cement.
Known since antiquity and widely used in furniture in the 18th century, it comes from a quarry near Aix-en-Provence, in the commune of Tholonet in the Sainte-Victoire massif.
