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This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 Jun 11 @ 11:00UTC-08:00 : PST/AKDT
Property of a french nobleman A LATE LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED PALISANDER AMARANTH AND MARQUETRY BUREAU-PLAT By Renaud Gaudron, circa 1710 The gilt-tooled beige leather-inset rounded rectangular top with a band of scrolled flowering acanthus punctuated at each corner and the center of each long side with a grotesque mask, above a short frieze drawer with curved front centered by a scrolled cartouche issuing flowering acanthus sprays, flanked by two sets of three drawers each, the inside to either side of the kneehole, similarly decorated, each side decorated with a flowering vase above a mask with acanthus collar, flanked by flowering acanthus-sheathed scrolls, on eight cabriole legs with foliate decoration and acanthus-sheathed hoof sabots 315?8 x 72 x 33 in. (80.5 x 183 x 84 cm) $300,000-400,000 Provenance In a French ch‚teau belonging to the same family since the 18th century, possibly as a gift from Louis XIV. The gaudrons several years ago the name of Aubertin Gaudron was mentioned by few furniture historians, and reference works provided only a partial account of his life and work, giving few details. since the recent study of the Gaudrons by Calin Demetrescu, based on archival documents, We now know that behind the name Gaudron lies a family of ÈbÈnistes whose output traces the evolution of Royal furniture from the mid-17th to the early 18th century. Jean Gaudron from the Ardennes had two sons, Etienne and Aubertin (circa 1610-1684), who had three sons, Henri, Nicolas (d. 1702) and Renaud (d. 1727). Aubertin By 1676, Aubertin was menuisier ordinaire de la chambre et maison de la duchesse d’OrlÈans (Elisabeth-Charlotte de BaviËre, princesse Palatine), a position probably obtained through the graces of Marie-Catherine de La Rochefoucauld, marquise de Senecey and duchesse de Randan (1588-1677), who had been the gouvernante of Louis XIV (1638-1715) and philippe ii duc d’OrlÈans (1674-1723). In this capacity he supplied furniture to the duc and duchesse at the Palais Royal, and both of them appear as debtors in his inventaire aprËs dÈcËs, which was drawn up by the ÈbÈniste du roi, Pierre Gole (1620-1684), among others. This document reveals a workshop with four benches and a large stock, but as Aubertin was already 75 years old, it is likely that by this point he acted in an advisory capacity and that his son Renaud ran the workshop with help from Nicolas. If this was not already the case, then Renaud took full control of the workshop in 1684. renaud Renaud spent almost his entire life living and working on the rue de Richelieu, presumably at the intersection with the rue du Faubourg Saint-HonorÈ where his father had set up shop in 1666 ‡ l’enseigne de Saint Charles BorromÈe. He inherited from his father the title of menuisier ordinaire de la chambre et maison de la duchesse d’OrlÈans, and obtained in 1686 the more elevated position of fournisseur du Garde Meuble de la Couronne, which he retained for the rest of his life. From 1686-93 he was the most important fournisseur and, beginning in 1698, he also began to work for the Menus Plaisirs. Among his other important clients was Louise de Kerouaille, duchesse de Portsmouth (1649-1734), maid of honor to Henrietta Stuart, duchesse d’OrlÈans, and mistress to Charles II (1630-1685), on whom she is believed to have spied for Louis XIV. Among the clients of Nicolas were Anne-Louise de Bourbon-CondÈ, duchesse du Maine (1676-1753), Marie-ThÈrËse de Bourbon-CondÈ, princess de Conti (1666-1732) and the comtesse de Gramont. When Renaud died in 1727, his workshop had three benches, and it is clear that he worked closely with his brother Nicolas, who ran a secondary workshop in Saint-Germain-en-Laye until 1684 and then Versailles until his death in 1702. Their production During their 27 years as fournisseurs du Garde Meuble de la Couronne, (1686-1713) the Gaudrons provided several dozen desks, tables, commodes, armoires and cabinets. Mentioned in the Inventaire gÈnÈral du Mobilier de la Couronne and Les RÈgistres du Garde-Meuble, the vast majority of these pieces were veneered and decorated with a variety of motifs first fashionable circa 1670, floral marquetry, grotesque masks, scrolled acanthus and flowering vases, which continued to be used in decorative schemes into the 18th century and appear on the present bureau-plat. The Gaudrons clearly excelled at making the desk with seven drawers, an updated version of the bureau Mazarin that would eventually yield the bureau-plat. The present piece, produced by Renaud, circa 1710, probably with the help of Nicolas, exemplifies this type with its overall floral marquetry, two projecting rows of slightly rounded drawer fronts, eight cabriole legs, and rounded rectangular top with marquetry surround incorporating smiling masks and fleur-de-lys. Tops with rounded corners and drawers with rounded fronts were used by Renaud from 1697-1698, but particularly after 1702. What is unusual about this desk is the use of cabriole legs, square or turned legs being more common. His use of fleur-de-lys is well known, but only for his best, though not longest-standing client, Louis XIV. Nonetheless, no desk described in the Journal du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne before 1713, the year Renaud retired, really corresponds to the present example. It is more likely that it was made for an important person at court but unfortunately no archival material allows us to confirm this hypothesis. A similar desk was in the Sarti collection, London. Intimately tied to the production for the Garde Meuble during the last 30 years of the reign of Louis XIV, Renaud and Nicolas Gaudron were cabinetmakers whose production faithfully charts the evolution of Royal furniture from 1680-1710. Certainly old-fashioned when compared with the advanced production of their colleagues AndrÈ-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and Jean-Alexandre Oppenordt (1639-1715), the furniture of the Gaudrons provides a precious reflection of the personal taste of the king for furniture in his residences.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Friday June 7, 2002 , Monday June 10, 2002
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