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Galerie Léage
Adam Weisweiler
CAMBACERES' CHEST OF DRAWERS
This rectangular mahogany chest of drawers opens onto four rows of drawers with gilt bronze decors.
Height: 98 cm – 38 1⁄2 inches Width: 155 cm – 61 inches Depth: 62,5 cm – 24 1⁄2 inches
description
A chest of drawers belonging to Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (1753-1824)
The provenance of this piece of furniture is linked to the Archchancellor and Second Consul Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès. The inventory of the Hôtel d'Elbeuf, drawn up in 1808 and kept in the Archives Nationales, at the time when Napoleon ceded all his furniture to the archchancellor, describes this chest of drawers in the bedroom on the 1st floor of the Hôtel d'Elbeuf as follows: " A commode, new, antique style with portor marble top, the said in mahogany wood, adorned with gilded bronze mat, the front with 3 small drawers, in the thickness of the frieze, with heads of Mercury and griffins, large drawers below with different entries of locks and handles formed by knobs, side panels with laurel leaf wreaths and Diana heads, lower crosspieces with gilded moldings and antique bronze-colored parts, lion claw feet and baguette frame with gilt copper fillet 1m55c wide 1m high ". This hotel had been luxuriously furnished for him by the Garde-Meuble under the Consulat, using furniture and objects from the previous century as well as the latest Parisian fashions. Our chest of drawers stood alongside the most prestigious pieces of furniture in the Garde-Meuble's collection - after those reserved for Bonaparte at the Tuileries - most of which dated from the end of the reign of Louis XV.
A rare chest of drawers after Charles Percier (1764-1838)
The highly elaborate composition of this commode, with its particularly original treatment of the lower front rail and lion claw feet, places it at the transition between the Louis XVI and Empire styles. The apparent simplicity of its overall design, combined with the quality of its bronzes with antique motifs, is directly inspired by a commode project by Charles Percier that was formerly in the Roche collection published by Hector Lefuel.
Its overall proportions, supported by lion-claw feet topped by a volute and palmette, and joined by a cul-de-lampe (or apron) with double scrolls, rosettes and half-palmettes, of a design drawn from the Greco-Roman repertoire, make it part of a group comprising several chests of drawers and secretaries sometimes associated with the Jacob workshops, but more logically attributed to Adam Weisweiler (1746-1820) and probably made under the supervision of the Parisian marchand-mercier Martin-Eloi Lignereux (1751-1809).
This group of selected pieces includes two chests of drawers, both acquired by Tsar Paul I in 1799 for the Palace of St. Petersburg and now housed at the Hermitage, featuring identical legs combined with tuya veneer or Wedgwood plates respectively. Another similar commode and its matching secretary mounted with Japanese lacquer panels are in a private collection. Belonging to the same series, a secretary with marble decoration is also kept in the King's cabinet in Aranjuez, while a set combining chest of drawers and secretary with Japanese lacquer decoration formerly in the Safra collection is now in a private collection.
A marble-decorated secretary from the same series is also in the King's cabinet in Aranjuez, while a set combining a chest of drawers and a Japanese lacquer-decorated secretary formerly in the Safra collection is now in a private collection.
A related secrétaire and semainier, apparently by Georges Jacob, whose name has also sometimes been associated with this series, have also been listed by D. Ledoux-Lebard. Indeed, Hector Lefuel noted numerous commodes with this form of sub-base delivered in the early 1800s in Jacob's Memoirs, including a commode veneered in lemon and amaranth with a solid mahogany sub-base delivered by Jacob-Desmalter for Empress Marie-Louise in Fontainebleau in 1810.
Jean-Pierre Samoyault's study of this set of furniture in his book devoted to French furniture of the Consulate and Empire, based on the bronzes of some of the pieces in this set, however, attributes its authorship to the duo formed by Weisweiler and Thomire, undoubtedly under the impetus of the merchant Martin-Eloi Lignereux.
The provenance of this piece of furniture is linked to the Archchancellor and Second Consul Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès. The inventory of the Hôtel d'Elbeuf, drawn up in 1808 and kept in the Archives Nationales, at the time when Napoleon ceded all his furniture to the archchancellor, describes this chest of drawers in the bedroom on the 1st floor of the Hôtel d'Elbeuf as follows: " A commode, new, antique style with portor marble top, the said in mahogany wood, adorned with gilded bronze mat, the front with 3 small drawers, in the thickness of the frieze, with heads of Mercury and griffins, large drawers below with different entries of locks and handles formed by knobs, side panels with laurel leaf wreaths and Diana heads, lower crosspieces with gilded moldings and antique bronze-colored parts, lion claw feet and baguette frame with gilt copper fillet 1m55c wide 1m high ". This hotel had been luxuriously furnished for him by the Garde-Meuble under the Consulat, using furniture and objects from the previous century as well as the latest Parisian fashions. Our chest of drawers stood alongside the most prestigious pieces of furniture in the Garde-Meuble's collection - after those reserved for Bonaparte at the Tuileries - most of which dated from the end of the reign of Louis XV.
A rare chest of drawers after Charles Percier (1764-1838)
The highly elaborate composition of this commode, with its particularly original treatment of the lower front rail and lion claw feet, places it at the transition between the Louis XVI and Empire styles. The apparent simplicity of its overall design, combined with the quality of its bronzes with antique motifs, is directly inspired by a commode project by Charles Percier that was formerly in the Roche collection published by Hector Lefuel.
Its overall proportions, supported by lion-claw feet topped by a volute and palmette, and joined by a cul-de-lampe (or apron) with double scrolls, rosettes and half-palmettes, of a design drawn from the Greco-Roman repertoire, make it part of a group comprising several chests of drawers and secretaries sometimes associated with the Jacob workshops, but more logically attributed to Adam Weisweiler (1746-1820) and probably made under the supervision of the Parisian marchand-mercier Martin-Eloi Lignereux (1751-1809).
This group of selected pieces includes two chests of drawers, both acquired by Tsar Paul I in 1799 for the Palace of St. Petersburg and now housed at the Hermitage, featuring identical legs combined with tuya veneer or Wedgwood plates respectively. Another similar commode and its matching secretary mounted with Japanese lacquer panels are in a private collection. Belonging to the same series, a secretary with marble decoration is also kept in the King's cabinet in Aranjuez, while a set combining chest of drawers and secretary with Japanese lacquer decoration formerly in the Safra collection is now in a private collection.
A marble-decorated secretary from the same series is also in the King's cabinet in Aranjuez, while a set combining a chest of drawers and a Japanese lacquer-decorated secretary formerly in the Safra collection is now in a private collection.
A related secrétaire and semainier, apparently by Georges Jacob, whose name has also sometimes been associated with this series, have also been listed by D. Ledoux-Lebard. Indeed, Hector Lefuel noted numerous commodes with this form of sub-base delivered in the early 1800s in Jacob's Memoirs, including a commode veneered in lemon and amaranth with a solid mahogany sub-base delivered by Jacob-Desmalter for Empress Marie-Louise in Fontainebleau in 1810.
Jean-Pierre Samoyault's study of this set of furniture in his book devoted to French furniture of the Consulate and Empire, based on the bronzes of some of the pieces in this set, however, attributes its authorship to the duo formed by Weisweiler and Thomire, undoubtedly under the impetus of the merchant Martin-Eloi Lignereux.
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