Decorated with splendid gilt bronze mounts of truly sculptural quality, these magnificent armoires are superb testament to the work of Charles Cressent (1685-1768). The spectacular high-relief figures of Apollo and Daphné and Apollo and Marsyas, with which Cressent adorned the doors, are a clear tribute to André-Charles Boulle.

CHARLES CRESSENT

Born in Amiens, Charles Cressent (d. 1768) was the son of the sculpteur du Roi, François Cressent. As a young apprentice he would therefore certainly have known Gilles Oppenord, who was appointed first architect to the duc d'Orléans in 1709. Based in the suburbs of Paris in 1711, Cressent worked for the sculptors Girardon and le Lorrain in 1714. Elected maître sculpteur of the Saint Luc Academy on the 14 August 1714, he subsequently qualified as an ébéniste after his marriage to the widow of Joseph Poitou (formerly ébéniste du Régent) in 1719. Having enlarged the workshop considerably, Cressent was in turn appointed ébéniste du Régent, (the duc d'Orléans) and flourished because of the sumptuous mounts he created for his furniture, which he sold to a wealthy clientèle, consisting mainly of financiers.

Charles Cressent is indisputably the most representative craftsman of the Régence period that saw fashion turn towards furniture finished with less complex veneers or indeed marquetry, though fitted with ormolu mounts of increasingly sculptural quality and splendour. In this arena Cressent stood alone, his early training as a sculptor being more than evident in the originality and quality of his mounts. He became master sculptor in 1719 and a member of the Academy of Saint-Luc. He is recorded as both sculpteur and ébéniste to the duc d'Orléans, and he was constantly in difficulties with the guild of fondeurs and doreurs because, in contravention of the guild rules, he chased and gilded bronzes in his own workshop. In many instances he had even supplied models which he had created himself to the casters of his bronzes. His defence against this was that it enabled him to supervise the quality of the work and to prevent unauthorized copies being made; it has to be said that his defiance of the guild regulations has left a legacy of ormolu mounts of unparalleled distinction.

ARMOIRES BY CRESSENT

Survival of the Grand Siècle, tall armoires, also known as armoires d’ébénisterie, were in the first quarter of the 18th Century, considered the grandest decorative features in State Rooms. Succeeding from the tradition of earlier cabinets, the new model of armoires were also conceived to house collections of precious objects and curiosities and were also admired as luxurious objects in their own right; the richness of their decoration echoing the richness of their contents. André-Charles Boulle was the first to experiment with these armoires, followed by Charles Cressent who also created a large variety of shapes, from monumental armoires to meubles à mis-hauteur, bookcases, médaillés or armoires en encoignures.

Large armoires were probably the most admired pieces in Cressent’s oeuvre as testified by his 1749 and 1757 stock sales, in which these were placed first, and with the highest estimates. The most famous example of this type is the pair in the Louvre (0A 10582) which was sold in the 1761 sale of M. de Selle later acquired by M. Bonneval, trésorier Général de la Reine in 1766. Interestingly, an advertisement of this item indicated an exorbitant fabrication cost of 12 000 lives. The Louvre pair is the closest example to the present in term of shape and arrangement of the ormolu mounts, while it has two doors instead of one.

The sculptural mounts of Apollo and Daphné on one as well as Apollo and Marsyas on the other, are a tribute to André-Charles Boulle, and based on the mounts he created for his famous ‘Armoires de l’Histoire d’Apollon’, including the armoire sold at Christie’s, 22-23 October 2003, lot 715. These high-relief mounts reflect Boulle and Cressent’s common passion for sculpture revealed by their extensive private collections of bronze and marbles.

Typical of Cressent’s work here are the interlaced ormolu frames which are also visible on the Louvre pair as well as on the Mentmore armoire d’angle from the collection of the Earls of Rosebery, Mentmore, sold at Sotheby’s house sale, 19 May 1977, lot 513. Another characteristic is the superb parquetry and timber arrangement with banding matching the ormolu ornaments, also demonstrated on the pair from the Lelong collection (private collection) or the celebrate ‘armoire à médailles’ supplied in 1739 to the duc Louis d’Orléans, now at the Bibliothèque National de France. It is fascinating that all the armoires share the same ‘parquet’ construction feature to the inside of the doors which were a distinctive construction favoured by Cressent.

LONSDALE PROVENANCE

Stencilled with the brand '861 C.H.T.’, this pair of armoires, as well as a larger armoire en suite (op. cit. A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, sculpteur, ébéniste du Régent, 2003, p. 261) was part of the prestigious collections of William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale (1787-1872) in his London residence at 14 and 15 Carlton House Terrace. Lord Lonsdale, who inherited the title of 2nd Earl of Lonsdale in 1844, was an experienced politician and childhood friend of George, Prince of Wales, later George IV. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Lonsdale, like his contemporaries the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Shelbourne, embarked upon an extravagant buying spree to bring home the spoils of Europe, particularly Greek and Roman sculpture, as well as magnificent French furniture of the ancien régime - including such noteworthy purchases as the variant of Lalive de Jully's gôut Grec bureau plat now at Chantilly. 'Like his friend Lord Hertford, the fourth Marquess, he was an amateur of beauty in women, in horses, in art, and in music, so that Paris, then the centre of the world of celebrities and fashion, drew them both into its silken net' (Reginald, Viscount Esher, Cloud-Capp'd Towers, London, 1927, p. 4).

Lord Lonsdale's passion for the French arts was mirrored by that of the Prince Regent and it is extremely pertinent to note, therefore, that both shared a longstanding working relationship with the renowned London dealer or marchand-mercier Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1846). Baldock, subsequently appointed 'Purveyor of China, Earthenware and Glass to William IV', was responsible for forming many of the greatest 19th Century English collections of French furniture, including those of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Northumberland, William Beckford and George Byng. Lonsdale's employment of Baldock is recorded in existing invoices, and the trust between them is revealed by the fact that Baldock even acted as packer and remover during Lonsdale's move in 1837 (G. de Bellaigue, 'Edward Holmes Baldock, part 1', The Connoisseur, August 1975, p. 292). Baldock's name appears as a buyer in many of the more spectacular public auctions which took place during the first decades of the 19th century, often buying on behalf of his clients, and it is therefore certainly possible that these armoires were purchased in one of these sales. It is possible that Baldock further modified the armoires by adding the cornice mounts and side rosettes, which also the armoire en suite. The armoires left Carlton House Terrace when they were sold by Hugh, 5th Earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944), at Christie’s, London, 15 June 1884, lot 300.