National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Chest of Drawers (commode)
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

stamped on top of the carcase two times (once above each front foreleg): JOSEPH [between two fleurs-de-lys]; painted in black on top rail of the carcase at back: 1; pasted on back of carcase, the trade-card of the marchand-mercier Darnault

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Originally with (Darnault, Paris).[1] Dukes of Leeds, Hornby Castle, Yorkshire, by at least 1800;[2] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 28 June 1901, no. 100); Charles Wertheimer [d. 1911], London;[3] acquired 15 May 1909 by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] The trade card indicates that this chest of drawers was originally sold from Darnault's shop, under the sign of Au Roy d'Espagne, in the rue de la Monnaie, close by the Mint and the Pont Neuf in Paris.

[2] The 1901 sale catalogue mentions that this object and NGA 1942.9.411 were listed as a pair in an 1800 inventory of Hornby Castle.

[3] This chest of drawers was sold with NGA 1942.9.411. The two were purchased for 15,000 guineas, a price that stood as a record for French furniture sold at public auction for over half a century.

Exhibition History

1973
François Boucher in North American Collections: One Hundred Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago, 1973-1974, not in catalogue or brochure (shown only in Washington).
1975
The European Vision of America, National Gallery of Art, Washington , D.C., 1975-1976, not in cat., not shown at venues in Cleveland and Paris.

Bibliography

1902
Molinier, Emile. "Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle dans les Collections Étrangères." Les Arts, no. 2 (March 1902): 25, repro.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 18.
1959
Boger, Louise Ade. The Complete Guide to Furniture Styles. New York, 1959: pl. 161.
1982
Verlet, Pierre. Les meubles français du XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 1982: 124, 136, fig. 84.
1991
Verlet, Pierre. French Furniture of the Eighteenth Century. Translated by Penelope Hunter-Stiebel. Charlottesville and London, 1991: 109, 125, fig. 84.

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