Estimate

10.000 - 12.000

Session 2

6 June 2023

Hammer Price

Description

Oak carcass of jacaranda and satinwood veneers
Gilt bronze foliage applied elements
Three doors of marquetry decoration
Marble top
Resting on four legs of lion paw shaped feet
France, 19th century
(minor signs of wear)

110x131x48 cm

Category

Furniture

19TH CENTURY FRENCH FURNITURE

The second half of the 19th century is, undoubtedly, the age when decorative arts favoured the revivalist taste, the fusion of styles and the collecting. At an age when society looked attentively at the past, the greatest masters of previous centuries were inevitably reinterpreted by the new artists, hence promoting the emergence of quality replicas that were accepted by their contemporaries as genuine works of art. The glory of the golden age of Versailles was reborn in the decorative arts, particularly in furniture, inspired by the artistic character of the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI and by the much admired prototypes of the great furniture makers such as André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763) or Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806).
In 1860s Paris there a noticeable increase in the number of luxury furniture making workshops which, in that period employed 2000 workers, a figure in stark contrast with the 14,500 employed by the lower quality furniture making workshops. Luxury furniture makers were amongst the most privileged Paris craftsmen, being responsible for the production of exceptional pieces of furniture often destined to the French Imperial House or to other European Royal Courts.
As had already happened in the 18th century, cabinetmakers were among the privileged craftsmen of Paris, in charge of producing excellent quality furniture, normally destined to the French imperial house and other European royal houses, namely the Portuguese one. An example of this is the furniture that we can find in the collection of the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon.

Tiago Franco Rodrigues

Literature:
PAYNE, Christopher, 19thCentury European Furniture, Antique Collectors ́Club 1985;
RODRIGUES, Tiago, The furniture of Maison Krieger at art auction: A fine vitrine in Louis XV style sold by Veritas at Lisbon, ArtisOn, no5, Lisboa, ARTIS-IHA/FLUL, 2017;
VERLET, Pierre, Le mobilier royal français du XVIIIe siècle. IV – Meubles de la Couronne conservés en Europe et aux États-Unis, Paris, Editions Picard, 1990;
VERLET, Pierre, Les ébénistes du XVIII siècle français, Paris, Hachette, 1963;
VERLET, Pierre, Les meubles français du XVIII siècle, 2o edição, Paris, Presses Universitaire de France, 1982.

Maison Krieger

Maison Krieger was, in addition to being one of the most renowned furniture houses of the second half of the 19th century, reminiscent of the work of the cabinetmaker Antoine Krieger (1804 -1869) who, in 1826, established himself with his brother Nicolas Krieger in Paris, at number 17 Rue de Saint-Nicolas in Faubourg Sainte-Antoine.
After several changes of address, it was in 1850 (and already according to the Antoine Krieger & Cie stamp) that the workshop became established at number 76 of the same street.
Having participated in the great exhibitions of the 2nd half of the 19th century, he stood out at the London Exhibition of 1851 where he obtained a 2nd class medal and at the New York Exhibition of 1853 where he presented a piece of furniture with carved panels featuring medallions carved with the depiction of deer hunting and falconry in the Middle Ages.
With the death of Antoine Krieger, in 1856, his workshop was handed over to his sons-in-law Claude-Julien Cosse and Henry Racault who continued his work and artistic line, despite the fact that the house operated as a cooperative, with the name and stamp changed to Cosse-Racault et Cie (Ledoux-Lebard 1984, 390).
Four years later, there was a new change in the name of the house and in the stamps that recover the name of its founder, changing its name to A. Krieger et Cie or A. Racault et Cie. From 1880 we have stamps attached to Damon et Cie furniture and also the stamps “M(ais)on Krieger Ameublement Paris” (Ledoux-Lebard 1984).
On pieces produced in the first decade of the 1900s, we find the stamp DUVIVIER PARIS 77 FG-ST ANTOINE associated with Maison Krieger. This shows that it continued to produce even in the early 20th century, being headquartered at number 77 rue Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, in Paris.
Being one of the biggest and best furniture stores/houses in the city of Paris in the 19th century, it exhibited and created pieces in the most varied styles.
There were copies of the previous century, like interpretations of the Louis XV and XVI times. At the same time, artistic creativity of the century is developing, based on a hybridity of the arts of the past, known as the Napoleon III style.
With production carried out until the beginning of the 1920s, Maison Krieger's work was featured in the Universal Exhibition of 1900, where François Linke (1855-1946) achieved success – serving as an example the apparatus (Inv. FMA9) that the House -Museum Medeiros e Almeida presents in its collection.
The presence of the Maison Krieger stamp, which can sometimes be found on furniture designed by François Linke, is justified by the fact that he was its supplier (Ledoux-Lebard 1984, 396).

Tiago Franco Rodrigues

Literature:
PAYNE, Christopher – 19th Century European Furniture. Antique Collectors ́Club,1985
RODRIGUES, Tiago – The furniture of Maison Krieger at art auction: A fine vitrine in Louis XV style sold by Veritas at Lisbon, ArtisOn, no5, Lisboa, ARTIS-IHA/FLUL, 2017;