Jean-Henri RIESENER (1734-1806) or his workshop - Lot 48

Jean-Henri RIESENER (1734-1806) or his workshop Commode au chiffre de la Reine, three-quarter view, project for the Château de Versailles. Watercolor, pen and black ink over black pencil lines. Circa 1783 24.5 x 36.2 cm Scale in black pencil on the left and seat line at the bottom. Annotated at the bottom in the cabinetmaker's hand, in pen and brown ink: "comode de vieux lac de 4 pied 6 po de large sur 3 5 pe. de haut. " On "VI" watermarked paper. Formerly folded in quarters. This drawing represents Queen Marie Antoinette's commode, made in 1783 for the Queen's small apartments at Versailles (cabinet doré), en suite with a matching secretary. This furniture was moved to Saint Cloud in 1788, where the Sovereign took her favorite pieces. In Japanese lacquer, richly mounted with chased and gilded bronzes, bearing the MA monogram on the central drawer, the following drawings are, unlike the serre bijoux presented earlier, working drawings, precisely reproducing the lacquer and bronze motifs of the extant furniture now on display at New York's Metropole Museum. Successive owners : Abraham Alcan , supplier to the Rhine-Moselle army, between 1795 and 1797, who is said to have bought them for 8,000 livres at the St Cloud furniture sales in 1794-1795, then Riesener, who must have bought them from him, since he owned them in 1798. The furniture went to England in 1811 (William Beckford), then to the collection of George Watson Taylor and that of the Duke of Hamilton in 1832. William Kissam Vanderbilt acquired them in 1882 and donated them to the MET in 1920. Riesener is known to have designed his own furniture; his portrait by Vestier (Musée de Versailles) shows him with pencil in hand, furniture drawings scrolled across the table beside him. The title is in Riesener's hand and the drawing is probably the same. This very precise drawing appears to be a ricordo made in Riesener's own hand from the furniture in his possession, at the time of writing the letter to Guillemardet. The work remained in the cabinetmaker's archives until he bought some of his furniture at the revolutionary sales, and sought to negotiate it with the Spanish Court in 1798, through Ferdinand Guillemardet. Provenance: Guillemardet family by descent to this day. Expertise Cabinet de Bayser & Benoît Geisler Thanks to Mr. Christian Baulez