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A very elegant Louis XV Transition Louis XVI gilt bronze mounted tulipwood and kingwood inlaid bureau à cylinder by Léonard Boudin, stamped JME L BOUDIN, the pierced three-quarter gilt bronze gallery above a two-handled roll-top, sliding back to reveal a gilt tooled green Morocco leather-lined writing-surface above a central drawer flanked by a pair of drawers either side, each drawer quarter veneered with a central wreath-shaped escutcheon, the hipped angles headed by foliate mounts above cabriole legs terminated by acanthus-wrapped lion paw feet
Paris, date circa 1770
Height 116 cm, length 164.5 cm, depth 88 cm.
Provenance: Marcel Boussac, Château de Mivoisin, Dammarie-sur-Loing.
Literature: Jean Nicolay, “L’Art et Manière des Maîtres Ebénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle”, 1976, p. 72, pl. U, illustrating a similar bureau à cylinder.
The fact that this bureau was once owned by Marcel Boussac (1889-1980) is testament to its elegance and quality since Boussac was a man of great taste with a strong fashion sense and whose wealth ensured that he could purchase the very best. Known as the ‘King of Cotton’ Boussac was once the richest man in France and the 4th in Paris to own a Rolls Royce. He was born on 17th April 1889 at Châteauroux, where his father had a small tailoring business. Boussac then took this over and by rapidly expanding the concern established a vast textile empire that at one time included 60 mills. As Christian Dior’s financier he was to own the House of Dior and subsequently created one of Europe’s most successful thoroughbred racing studs and also ventured into the newspaper business when he purchased the right-wing paper L’Aurore. A handsome man with artistic sensitivity he married the Belgian born opera singer and France’s leading sopranos Fanny Heldy (1888-1973) with whom he enjoyed life at Château de Mivoisin, south of Paris at Dammarie-sur-Loing, Loiret. From there they lavishly entertained leading society figures and enjoyed hunting on their vast estate and it was also there that this bureau along with many other fine pieces of furniture would have stood. Fanny’s death coincided with the decline of Boussac’s empire and though he had to sell off his many concerns he continued to live at Mivoisin until his death on 21st March 1980.
Although it is predominantly in the Louis XV style, Marcel Boussac’s bureau belongs to the Transition period on account of the wreath-shaped escutcheons, the pierced gallery and the simple running mount either side of the roll-top. Léonard Boudin (1735-1807) was one of the leading ébénistes and marchand-ébénistes during the second half of the eighteenth century. Before he was received as a maître in 1761, Boudin worked as an independent craftsman in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, where he remained until circa 1767. From his atelier he supplied furniture to other esteemed ébénistes notably Pierre Migeon for whom he made furniture in floral marquetry and in Chinoiserie lacquer. He also supplied Gérard Péridiez, Roger Vandercruse (RVLC), Louis Moreau and most probably Pierre-Antoine Foullet.
Noted as an artisan of repute in “L’Almanach Dauphin”, 1770, Boudin was particularly skilled in the art of marquetry. His characteristic style sometimes included small circles within a border enclosing floral panels as well as rings in the four corners of the panels or at the top of the legs. Another typical motif was a large sunburst as well as cubic marquetry panels found on a number of his Louis XV secrétaires. Other of his pieces were ornamented in lacquer (e.g. at Château de Versailles) and also with japanning with European decoration (e.g. at Kunst. Husgerådskam, Stockholm). At other times his marquetry decoration was, as here, far simpler.
Boudin’s repute was enhanced after he supplied a bureau-plat to the marchand-ébéniste Gilles Joubert for the comte de Provence at Compiègne and a commode for the comte at Fontainebleau, 1771. Significant commissions followed which eventually resulted in him opening up a shop in the rue Froidmanteau sometime before 1775. Trading as a marchand-ébéniste he now commissioned pieces from other leading makers, such as Gilbert, Bircklé, Tuart, Macret, Chevallier, Foullet, Cordié, Evalde, Bayer, and Topino; their stamps are found on a number of pieces that were restamped by Boudin in his role as retailer. Between 1772-75 Topino supplied him with 49 small tables decorated with Chinoiserie subjects as well as other pieces such as a small table decorated with vases and various objects. Certain pieces decorated with landscapes and architectural motifs bearing Boudin’s stamp were most probably made by Gilbert, while a small secrétaire galbé (Cleveland Museum of Art) was almost certainly from the workshop of RVLC. Other collaborations included two Louis XV encoignures decorated with flowers and rocaille bronzes carrying the stamps of both Latz and Boudin.
In 1777 Boudin transferred his business to the cloister of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, by which date he appears to have ceased all activities as a craftsman and instead was acting solely as a trader. He gradually expanded the number of his premises and in addition to furniture sold other items in the ultimate taste, from bronzes and candelabra to exotic curiosities. At the same time he acted as an interior decorator, and in this capacity contributed to the furnishing of the duchesse d’Arenberg’s house in the rue de la Ville-l’Evêque.
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