Chest of Drawers (commode)

probably between 1767 and 1772 but possibly a decade earlier

Joseph Baumhauer

Cabinetmaker, German, active c. 1749 - 1772

Media Options

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G12

Artwork overview

  • Medium

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

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

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

  • Accession

    1942.9.412

Artwork history & notes

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

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.

Inscriptions

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

Wikidata ID

Q62758229

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