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Elegant Parisian secretaire in mahogany and mahogany veneer on three sides. It opens in the upper part with a drawer and a flap forming a gilt leather writing desk framed in mahogany. It reveals the paperweight with four compartments and six drawers plated in mahogany with golden buttons, one for the writing set. In the lower part, two leaves reveal shelves for archives.
It is topped with a white molded Carrara marble, resting on a Tuscan cornice, to which a molding answers under the upper drawer. The angles are jagged and fluted, the upper and lower parts punctuated by a mahogany belt. The rear uprights also fluted.
The keyholes consist of a medallion surmounted by a hanging laurel garland and a bow called "Noeud Marie-Antoinette".
Stamped SCHEY (1748-1788), received master on 7 February 1777 and JME (Jurande des Menuisiers Ebenistes parisiens).
With its very architectural lines, its sober style and its flawless finish, this secretary is perfectly representative of the work of Fidelys SCHEY.
FIDELYS SCHEY, master in 1777, Supplier of the GARDE MEUBLE DE LA COURONNE during the reign of LOUIS XVI
Fidelys SCHEY, cabinetmaker born in the duchy of Baden, became master on February 5, 1777. In 1783 he became deputy of his corporation and died on July 29, 1788.
Married to a sister of the cabinetmaker MONTIGNY, he lives in his neighborhood, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, opposite the Hospice des Enfants Trouvés.
His workshop successfully manufactures luxury and fancy furniture, such as toilets gueridons, chiffonnières, serving consoles, various coffee tables, secretaires and writing tables, Transition but mainly Louis XVI, in the purest neoclassical style.
Some pieces of furniture are made of veneered wood decorated with reserves or marquetry medallions, but they are mainly made of mahogany, some decorated with copper nets or fine bronze rods, delicately carved with moldings, grooves, rudentures and rods, remarkable for the power and delicacy of their lines.
He will receive several orders from the Royal Furniture Guard. In 1786, he supplied the Crown with several game tables intended for the Château de Fontainebleau, almost a twin of the backgammon game table from LOUIS XVI's apartment in FONTAINEBLEAU and currently kept in the apartment's games room of the king at the Château de VERSAILLES.
Count François de SALVERTE also notes as notable « un meuble d’entre-deux à étagères latérales reproduit dans le catalogue de la vente Louise Balthy, un beau bureau que j’ai vu chez M. G. Relier, et une paire de petites commodes de la collection Puiforcat. Le musée de Chaalis renferme un secrétaire du même auteur, avec des panneaux de placages encadrés de grecques. Comme autre exemple de ses travaux de marqueterie, on peut citer une table-coiffeuse, décorée d’entrelacs et rosaces, qui appartient au comte de Kervéguen » .
[“a furniture with side shelves reproduced in the catalog of the Louise Balthy sale, a beautiful desk that I saw at MG Relier, and a pair of small dressers from the Puiforcat collection. The Chaalis museum houses a secretary by the same author, with veneer panels framed in Greek. As another example of his marquetry work, we can cite a dressing table, decorated with interlacing and rosettes, which belongs to the Count of Kervéguen ".]
MUSEUMS, PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CLASSIFIED OBJECTS
• ÉTAT-MAJOR DE LA MARINE, HÔTEL DE LA MARINE, PARIS, "Armoire-bibliothèque" Louis XVI, mahogany and mahogany veneer, gilded bronze, 2nd half of the 18th century. Classified as a Historical Monument on 15 April 1980.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Bureau à cylindre" Louis XVI, mahogany and mahogany veneer, gilded bronze, marble. Provenance : Palais des Tuileries. Inv. GME-9281-000.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Table à écrire" Louis XVI, tulipwood and satinwood, leather. Inv. GME-7360-000.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Guéridon" Louis XVI, mahogany, marble and brass. Inv. GME-11678-000.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Encoignure" Louis XVI, mahogany and mahogany veneer, gilded bronze, marble. Provenance : Palais des Tuileries. Inv. GME-10239-000.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Bureau à cylindre" Louis XVI, bloodwood veneer, brass, marble. Inv. GME-632-000.
• MOBILIER NATIONAL, PARIS, "Bureau à cylindre" Louis XVI, mahogany and mahogany veneer, brass, bronze, marble. Inv. GME-8146-000.
• MUSÉE JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ, CHAALIS, "Secrétaire" Louis XVI, mahogany and mahogany veneer, gilded bronze, Greek frames.
• MUSÉE D’ART, HISTOIRE ET ARCHEOLOGIE, ÉVREUX, "Console desserte" Louis XVI, mahogany and Cuban mahogany veneer, gilded bronze, marble, 1788, inv. 8504.
• MUSÉE DU TRÉSOR DE L’HÔTEL-DIEU, CHÂTEAU-THIERRY, "Commode" Louis XVI, marquetry, Greek-style nets, gilded bronze, marble, second half of the 18th century.
• PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE, MAZET-MILON, "Bureau à cylindre" Louis XVI , mahogany and mahogany veneer, marble, 4th quarter of the 18th century. Classified as a Historical Monument on 31 December 2008.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• KJELLBERG Pierre, "Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle", Éditions de l’Amateur, 2008.
• SALVERTE comte François de, "Les Ébénistes du XVIIIe siècle", Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, 1934.
