Offered by Franck Baptiste Provence
Louis the XVth period violet wood chest of drawers by Jacques Dubois
Important chest of drawers (148 cm) in violet wood veneer opening with four drawers on three rows.
Curved model in front and on the sides, with amounts in scrolls ended by small feet.
Very beautiful decoration, with a luxurious violet wood veneer, alternating wood of thread and wood of end arranged in butterfly wings, in the center of geometrical reserves.
Rich rocaille ornamentation of gilded bronzes with openwork acanthus falls, upright edges, handles with oak leaves, entrances and a lamp base with asymmetrical acanthus.
Important red of flanders marble top, with double moldings and inclusion of shells.
Back in oak, inside drawers in walnut.
The right rear post stamped " I.DUBOIS " for Jacques Dubois.*
Good condition, small restorations.
Parisian work of the Louis XV period around 1740-1750
Dimensions :
Width : 148 cm ; Depth : 66 cm ; Height : 85,5 cm.
Our opinion :
The line remains very Regency and the monochrome veneer which made the success of Jacques Dubois allows us to date our chest of drawers to the beginning of the reign of Louis the XVth.
The I. DUBOIS stamp without the jurande’s hallmark confirms our hypothesis, and allows us to refine a production window between 1742 (date of Jacques Dubois' master's degree) and 1751 (Obligation to affix the jurande’s hallmark JME).
His appointment as a juror of the corporation of cabinetmakers in 1752, excludes any possibility of a production after this date, the master being himself in charge of the good control of the new rules of the jurande.
With its 148 cm width, the chest of drawers we present is undeniably a ceremonial chest of drawers intended to furnish a large living room.
If the original patron is not known to us, he was certainly an important member of the nobility in order to be able to afford the services of the king's cabinet maker who worked at that time for the greatest personalities of the kingdom and for the European royal courts.
*Jacques Dubois (1693-1763) is a cabinet maker received Master in Paris on September 5th, 1742.
Born in Pontoise around 1693, he was one of the greatest Parisian cabinet makers during the reign of Louis the XVth. For a long time a free worker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, he obtained his master's degree in 1742 at the age of forty-nine and pursued a brilliant career for nearly twenty years in the rue de Charenton. He was the King's cabinetmaker and worked for the nobility. The Dubois stamp guaranteed high-end furniture, highly prized in France and abroad. He produced a large number of remarkable works, and his particular knowledge constituted the "Dubois style" close to the Rocaille style. He used in abundance moving and irregular bronzes for the ornamentation and framing of chests of drawers, corner pieces and desks made of amaranth wood veneer, rosewood, violet wood, satinwood.... One of his great specialties was the use of European varnish in the taste of the Far East as well as panels in Chinese lacquer on a black and red background. All his creations of great richness and extraordinary fantasy were rather large and medium in size and chests of drawers, flat desks and sloping desks were his favorite furniture.
In 1752 he became a juror of the guild of carpenters and cabinet makers whose role was to judge the quality of the furniture produced by his colleagues. In 1763 he was charged with evaluating the estate left by Jean François Oeben. And after his own death a few months later, an inventory of his work was made to evaluate the influence of his work in the development of the Louis the XVth style. His workshop on rue de Charenton was taken over by his son René in 1763 who continued his father's work for another twenty years, also enjoying a laudatory reputation as a master craftsman.
