 |
RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
 |
|
|
RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
|
|
A very fine late Louis XV inlaid marquetry bois de rose, amaranth and stained maple wood commode by Pierre Pioniez, stamped PIONIEZ, of bombé form, inlaid overall with floral sprays within shaped panels, the serpentine shaped moulded top above two drawers each with wreath-bearing ring handles and central rocaille escutcheons above a dished apron with foliate scrolling mount, the edges finished with a running gilt border, the hipped cabriole angles headed by scrolled mounts on cabriole legs terminated by scrolling foliate sabots Paris, date circa 1765-70 Height 85 cm, width 52.5 cm, depth 36 cm. According to François comte de Salverte the esteemed ébéniste Pierre Pioniez (b. circa 1730 d. 1790) was first recorded in Paris circa 1758 working oeuvre libre as a privileged artisan in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Then following his acceptance as a maître in 1765 he moved to the Marais where he had a workshop in rue Michel-le-Comte and remained there until his death on 6th April 1790. Pioniez is known to have supplied fellow ébénistes particularly Pierre Migeon as well as Jean-François Oeben (1721-63) and Mathieu-Guillaume Cramer (m. 1771 d. 1804) and in addition to supplying fellow colleagues also made equally fine quality pieces for the French aristocracy. His output ranged from commodes, bonheurs-du-jour, various small tables including tric-trac tables to consoles dessertes, secrétaires and bureaux. At the beginning of his career Pioniez made a number of pieces in the later Louis XV style and then in later life in the more linear Louis XVI style. But more typical of his oeuvre were Transitional style commodes and tables, which generally had a rectangular form combined with cabriole legs. On certain pieces one also finds scrolls at the top of the legs ornamented by a cast medallion mount, which appears to be a characteristic particular to his work (as for example on a petite table de salon and on a bonheur-du-jour illustrated respectively in Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle”, 1998, pp. 655 and 657). Interestingly while the present piece features floral marquetry Pioniez often ornamented his works with pictorial marquetry panels, typically featuring small vases, cups, table implements and other utensils; these were often in the Chinese taste and almost certainly inspired by Coromandel lacquer screens. The same marquetry was used by Pioniez’s brother-in-law Roger Vandercruse, known as R.V.L.C. (1728-99) as well as Charles Topino (b. circa 1735 d. 1803). The similarity is often so close that Alexandre Pradère, (“French Furniture Makers”, 1989, p. 321) suggests that all three may have used the same marquetry maker of perhaps Topino, who was known to retail ready-made marquetry panels, supplied the other two. In addition to these decorative devices Pioniez also ornamented his work with geometric marquetry as well as with marquetry featuring trophies, musical instruments, ribbon-tied medallions or classical vases. Pioniez’s work was always of the highest quality and his lines of the most sophisticated elegance. Prized pieces now in public collections include a small inlaid bois de rose Transitional table with tinted wood frieze the Musée de Cognacq-Jay in Paris houses while a very small Transitional secrétaire in bois de rose and mahogany decorated with a Sèvres porcelain plaque is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Pierre Pioniez may have been related to Louis-Michel Pioniez who also worked in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine; the latter was recorded there in 1786 and may have been the same as Pioniez Père of rue Grenier-Lazare whose deceased sale of artefacts in 1797 included furniture, mounts, mirrors and marbles. |