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An extremely fine Restauration gilt bronze mounted mahogany guéridon attributed to Jean-Jacques Werner, the original dished circular portoro extra marble top above a frieze decorated with foliate acanthus mounts above the four scrolled supports each headed by acanthus mounts and rosettes to the inner edges, the supports terminating in gilt bronze lion paw feet on a wavy cross plinth with ring-turned ends on bun feet
Paris, date circa 1815-20
Height 78 cm, diameter 112 cm.
The overall monumental style, the quality of the veneer and particularly the design of the gilt bronze mounts confirm a positive attribution to Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849). Of note is the similarity between this piece and a console of 1815-20 bearing Werner’s stamp, illustrated in Denise Ledoux-Lebard, “Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle”, 2000, p. 633. In both cases the scrolled angular supports are headed by identical gilt bronze mounts and terminate in bold lion paw feet upon a similarly curvaceous plinth with the same styled ring-turned ends. It is also interesting to compare this with another very similar guéridon, likewise attributed to Werner, previously sold by this gallery, illustrated in Richard Redding, “Masterpieces of the Past”, 2000, p. 186.
Undoubtedly the most celebrated ébéniste of the Restauration period, Werner supplied work to the French royal household, the duchesse du Berry, prince Eugène Napoleon King of Bavaria, the princesse d’Eckmulh and other nobility. He specialized in the production of richly veneered luxury items and won silver medals for his works at the expositions of 1819, 1823, 1827 and 1834. His pieces both followed and determined fashion and while inspired by Antiquity, his forms and lines were as here more robust than those of the earlier Empire style. His strong forms were often ornamented with the finest gilt bronze mounts as well as superb marquetry inlays.
Born in Berne, Werner was the son of a timber merchant from Coinan in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. In 1812 Werner, who was a freemason, married Marie-Louise Chassan a seamstress by whom he had a son Jean-Louis, born the following year. The same of his marriage, he was established in rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, Paris advertising himself as tapissier de la princesse d’Eckmulh. He also described himself as a decorator and furniture maker in French wood. In 1820, the year after he moved to rue de Grenelle-Saint-Germain, he became a member of the Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale and also obtained the title of supplier to the Garde-Meuble; and after many applications was granted French nationality in 1826.
As evident here, one Werner’s greatest strengths was the exceptional quality of his wood. Although the majority of his pieces were made from indigenous French woods especially ash, elm, yew and mulberry, from about 1819 he began producing items from the finest mahogany. Following his father’s example in about 1815 Werner began preparing his own wood and set up four timber yards throughout France where he would season the wood at least nine to ten years in advance, some of which he sold to his contemporaries.
1819 marked his first exhibition success when he secured a silver medal at the Exposition de l’Industrie Française, followed by another silver medal at the 1823 Exposition. He subsequently attracted increasing numbers of commissions from the French nobility and foreign princes, attaining the title of Fournisseur et Décorateur de sa Maison to the King of Bavaria, whose palace he furnished, 1825 and also Château de Rosny. While a number of his works can be found among notable private collections, they can also be admired at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée de Château de Versailles, Grand Trianon and the Palais Lenchtenberg in Munich.
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