Chest of Drawers (commode), probably between 1767 and 1772 but possibly a decade earlier

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 12

Medium

oak veneered with tulipwood, kingwood, casuarina, and purplewood; gilded bronze mounts; breccia marble top

Dimensions

overall: 84 x 124.5 x 57 cm (33 1/16 x 49 x 22 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.412

Artists / Makers

Joseph Baumhauer (cabinetmaker) German, active c. 1749 - 1772

Image Use

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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

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 J. Wertheimer [1842-1911], 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.

Associated Names

Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Wertheimer, Charles J.
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

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.