CENTRE TABLE WITH “DUPASQUIER CHIMERAS”

Paris, Directory period, circa 1798-1800.
Pierre-Philippe Thomire (Founder-Finisher, 1751-1843)

Chased patinated gilt bronze; pink granite.

H. 90 cm. (35 ½ in.); W. 137 cm. (54 in.); D. 77 cm. (30 ½ in.).

PROVENANCE: formerly in the collection of the Baron and the Baronne Eugène Charles Joachim Fould-Springer, then collection of Nathaniel de Rothschild, in Palais Abbatial of Royaumont (Val-d’Oise, France).

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: Denis Roche, Le Mobilier français en Russie, meubles des XVII^e et XVIII^e siècles et du commencement du XIX^e conservés dans les palais et les musées impériaux et dans les collections privées, Paris, 1912-1913, vol. 2, pl. XCVII and XCVIII; Ernest Dumonthier, Mobilier national de France. Les Tables. Styles Louis XVI et Empire, Paris, 1924, pl. 38; Hedvig Szabolcsi, “M. E. Lignereux, ébéniste illustre sous le Consulat (un meuble signé de Ligneureux au musée des Arts décoratifs de Budapest)”, Acta Historiae Artium, Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae”, Tomus VIII, Fasciculi 3-4, Budapest, 1962, p. 279-298; Patricia Lemonnier, Weisweiler, Paris, 1984, p. 138; Iouna Zek, Catalogue de l’exposition des œuvres de Thomire au Musée de l’Ermitage, Leningrad, 1984, cat. No. 21; Iouna Zek, “Bronze d’ameublement et meubles français achetés par Paul 1^er pour le château Saint-Michel de Saint Petersburg en 1798-1799″, Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Art Français, year 1994, Paris, 1995, p. 142-157; Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Mobilier français Consulat et Empire, Paris, 2009, p. 105-108; Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel and Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Le mobilier de Versailles, chefs-d’œuvre du XIX^e siècle, Dijon, 2009, p. 108-109, cat. No. 14, and pp. 128-131, cat. No. 26.

A masterpiece of the Rothschild collection at the abbey palace of Royaumont, this centre table constitutes one of the most remarkable landmarks in the history of French furniture produced during the Directoire period: a particularly fertile period when the “Etruscan” and antique styles, together with the pronounced taste for Egyptomania, all forerunners of the Consulate style, came into full fruition under the impetus of great designers. These included the architects Percier and Fontaine and illustrious companies specialising in luxury trade, of which the most famous were uncontestably those of the Jacob Frères and Martin-Eloi Lignereux, the latter working in partnership with the famous founder-chiseler Pierre-Philippe Thomire.

Information Inquiry