Estimate

12.000 - 18.000

Session 2

6 June 2023

Hammer Price

Description

After an 18th century prototype by Jean-Henri Riesener
Oak
Jacaranda, satinwood and other timbers marquetry decoration of geometric motifs and flowers
Central panel with fruits and flowers basket and jug
Classically inspired floral and foliage gilt bronze mounts and handles
Mable top and three short and two long drawers
Stamped "RINCK 115 Frg St. Antoine Paris"
France, 19th century

97x171x63 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 Rink

The Rinck family history goes as far back as 1841 when, in Alsace (north-eastern France), the furniture maker Jacques Rinck began his joinery business production. In 1871, when Prussia invades that French territory, the Rinck were forced to abandon their homeland to settle in Paris, at 8, Passage de la Bonne Graine, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine area. By then they distinguished themselves as furniture makers, producing in the Napoleon III style and replicating 18th century prototypes, such as is the case with the present lot.
Maison Rinck still maintains an important production of contemporary furniture.