French Transition commode, Pierre Macret, circa 1770

A small, elegant commode upon four diagonally oriented, tapering legs that terminate in gilt bronze sabots that mimic the angular shape of the legs. The commode’s shape is also known as breakfront, in reference to the protruding central section. The commode has two drawers sans traverse, decorated with floral intarsia within fields framed by a geometric intarsia border. Above these is the third, narrower drawer, which repeats the floral decoration scheme, as do the sides of the commode. All three drawers feature gilt bronzework and gilt bronze pulls, while the diagonally oriented stiles at the corners are decorated with gilt bronze fluting. Below this, the blocks are each ornamented with a gilt bronze rosette within a square frame. Level with the upper drawer, the side styles feature an architectural neoclassicist applique with festoons. The upper side of the commode is covered by a sheet of Brêche marble.

Pierre Macret was born in 1727, married at the age of 20 and was appointed marchand-ébéniste privilégié du Roi suivant la cour et conseils de sa majesté in 1756, inheriting the title following the death of the widow Latz. The archives of marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux reveal that he owed a debt of 1169 livres to Macret in December 1758 . Macret also collaborated with the marchand Darnault. Newspaper advertisements show that in 1763, Macret worked in Rue Saint Honoré in the Hôtel d’Auvergne, near Saint-Roch.

The Marquis of Marigny, Directeur des Bâtiments, purchased 1890 livres’ worth of furniture from him in 1770. Macret served as fournisseur ordinaire des menus-plaisirs du Roi from 1764 to 1771. In 1771, he changed his status to become a marchand-mercier in Paris, and subsequently took up residence in a more comfortable home in Rue Saint-Honoré, as befit his new status, in April 1772. Shortly before 1772, he supplied the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette with furniture worth 1222 livres. Also, the Marquis of Monconseil, father to the princess d’Henin, had ordered furniture to a sum of 4690 livres.

The works of Macret are on display in many museums, including Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris, the palace of Versailles, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Hillwood House in Washington DC, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Provenance:
Auctioned at Christie’s London, 12 December 1985, lot 149
Bernard Baruch Steinitz, Paris
Private collection, Amsterdam