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Ancellet,
Avisse,
Beneman,
Boudin,
Boulle,
Canabas,
Carel,
Diehl,
Dubois,
the Hache family,
Henri
Jacob, the Jacob family, Jullien,
Lacroix,
Latz,
Meunier,
Migeon,
Poirié,
Pluvinet,
Roussel,
Turcot,
Vandercruse,
Vanrisamburgh,
Weisweiler
Denis Louis Ancellet, initially a free craftsman, was named master in Paris on December 3, 1766 and was deputy or councillor of his guild in the last years of the ancien régime. After living on the rue de Charenton until about 1780, he transferred his firm to the rue Saint-Nicolas. He focused quite successfully on fashioning works of art, but especially produced standard pieces that dealers bought from him in great number. His talents were used in the service of the king. In the spring of 1791, when Louis XVI made the decision to go to Saint-Cloud and have the château repaired to receive the court, this cabinetmaker received a commission from the Royal Furniture Repository for about 60 works that were worth a total of 3,109 livres. The mark of this master craftsman is found on precious furniture in solid mahogany and in narrow-band marquetry, among which are several handsome console tables. Bibliography: Comte François de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions d’art et d’histoire. Paris, 1953, fourth edition. D.L. Ancellet was a competent craftsman who seems to have never gotten involved in the manufacture of exceptional furniture. Almost all his production, to our knowledge, consisted of carefully treated mahogany furniture whose style was somewhat cold and dry: writing tables, bouillotte tables and commodes. He also made small chests and console tables. His specialty, however was card tables. He practiced very little marquetry except for sober inlays of narrow bands or discreet motifs. Bibliography: Jean Nicolay.
L’Art
et la manière des maîtres ébénistes français
au XVIII° siècle. Guy le Prat - Editeur. Paris, 1956.
Jean Avisse (1723-after 1796), a representative from an important family of chair and sofa joiners, became a master joiner in 1745 and set up business on the rue de Cléry. He worked with renowned sculptors such as Pierre Rousseau, Claude Vinache and probably Nicolas Heurtaut, which would explain why the sculpture on his chairs was always of such exceptional quality. His seats are kept in most
of the world’s museums (see his biography in Bill Pallot. Le Mobilier
du Musée du Louvre, Vol. III. Editions Faton, 1993. p. 300).
Originally from Germany (circa 1750-1811), Guillaume Beneman set up in Paris on a date that is still not known. He quickly became one of the most celebrated cabinetmakers of his time. Not a single archival document mentioning him prior to the accounts of the Royal Furniture Repository for the year 1784 has yet to be found. To such an extent that the circumstances that would lead to his appointment as Cabinetmaker to the King and his promotion to master through someone’s favor are unknown to this day. The idea of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s intervention must all that more easily be put aside as the queen continued to turn to Riesener for the furnishings paid for by her privy purse. It seems that Thierry de Ville d’Avray, director of the Royal Furniture Repository starting in 1784, inaugurating a new management policy, had sought a less costly and less independent-minded executant than Riesener and that Beneman had been presented to him by Jean Hauré. Very rapidly placed at the head of the most important workshops of his period, Beneman used his irreproachable technique to serve the Furniture Repository and expertly made use of a policy whose aim was to unify the style of the furnishings of the royal residences. His later work, under the Directoire, shows that he adapted forms in fashion, giving them a certain elegance. Beneman is still cited under
the Empire, but these years are shrouded with the same mystery as those
of his youth. At the least, it can be supposed that he had died or was
no longer in France at the return of the Bourbons to whom he would not
have failed to recall by some petition the years he had spent in the service
of the Crown and all the more so as the new director of the Furniture Repository
was once again Thierry de Ville d’Avray.
A skilled Parisian
cabinetmaker, who was born in 1735 and died circa 1804. Poor and illiterate,
he was eking out a living in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine when Migeon asked
him to execute some furniture in marquetry. After having accumulated a
few assets, he became a master on March 4, 1761 and set up business on
the rue Traversière. The expansion of his affairs led him to open
his own shop and he took over a business between the Louvre and the Palais
Royal.
Born in Paris in 1642,
André-Charles Boulle came from a family that originally lived in
the region of Gueldre, in Holland. His father, who for a long time spelled
his name “Jean Bolt,” was himself an ebony joiner, who had set up shop
in 1653 in the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève quarter. André-Charles
Boulle was named master before 1666 as he was called “master joiner in
ebony” that year in a notarial deed. He lived and practiced his trade on
the rue de Reins near the church Saint-Etienne du Mont, as did his parents.
He seems to have excelled very early on in his profession, which earned
him the granting, in 1672, of lodgings in the gallery of the Louvre by
royal privilege. On this occasion, Colbert recommended him to the king
as “the most skilled craftsman in Paris in his trade.” That same year,
Boulle received a royal warrant from the queen naming him “Cabinetmaker,
Chiseler, Gilder and Sculptor to the King.” Boulle could thus take pride
in the title of bronze caster as well as cabinetmaker, and he kept up this
dual activity throughout his life. As a result, he infringed on the guilds’
regulations, which prohibited the simultaneous practice of two professions,
but as he was the king’s cabinetmaker and was housed in the Louvre, action
could not be taken against him. In 1677, Boulle married Anne-Marie Leroux.
They had seven children, including the future cabinetmakers Philippe (1678-1744),
Pierre Benoît (1680-1741), André-Charles II (1685-1745) and
Charles-Joseph (1688-1754). Boulle’s renown would continue to grow. Brice
wrote about him in 1684: “He creates extraordinarily well-fashioned marquetry
works that the curious carefully conserve.” The 1691 “Livre commodes des
adresses de Paris” noted: “Boulle produces marquetry works of singular
beauty” and, in the 1692 edition, pointed out Boulle along with Cucci and
Lefèvre as being the only three cabinetmakers worth mentioning in
Paris. From 1672 on, Boulle assumed the title of “Cabinetmaker and Marquetry
Craftsman in Ordinary to the King,” to which he often added “Chiseler.”
He made, however, very little furniture for Louis XIV. In fact, Boulle
worked for the buildings department of the king, producing, in particular,
marquetry parquet flooring or ormolu elements and occasionally a few pieces
of furniture.
Bibliography: Alexandre
Pradère. Les Ebénistes français de Louis XIV à
la Révolution.
Joseph Gengenbach, called Canabas, was a cabinetmaker of note who was born circa 1715 and died in Paris on January 11, 1797. He was the son of a craftsman of the trade, who in all likelihood came from the margraviate of Baden and who worked in Alsace during the time of Louis XV. Settling early on in Paris, he wed, in 1745, Marie-Reine Parmentier, the daughter of a fellow craftsman and moved to the rue de Charonne as a privileged worker of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. His talents were used at this period by famous furniture dealers such as Pierre Migeon and Jean-François Oeben, to whom he notably sold “spiral desks,” “secretaire screens” and tables that could be dismantled to be used for travel or by armies. Canabas became a specialist in this type of whimsical furniture, which he continued to produce in great number after being named master on April 1, 1766. The increasing size of his business soon led him to take a much larger workshop on the main street of the Faubourg, opposite the rue Saint-Nicolas. During the French Revolution, Canabas managed, not without some difficulty, to save his firm, which had become very prosperous by the time he died under the Directoire. Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art and d’histoire. Paris, 1955, fourth edition.
Joseph Gegenbach, called Canabas, was a highly skilled joiner-cabinetmaker who specialized almost entirely in small pieces of furniture, almost all of them in mahogany. The number of carefully worked pieces he made was considerable. He only very occasionally undertook large productions such as armoires, commodes and secretaires. The way in which Joseph Canabas worked was very particular. He used mahogany of the finest quality and of excellent color with a very close grain. His works distinguish themselves in the perfection of their woodworking. The furniture he produced has withstood the passage of time and the perfection of their execution is truly admirable. Bibliography: Jean Nicolay.
L’Art et la manière des maîtres ébénistes français
au XVIII° siècle. Guy Le Prat - Editeur. Paris, 1956.
Carel (master in 1732) was a master cabinetmaker of solid, serious talent, who left his large mark on a limited number of pieces. He seems to have specialized in the manufacture of large items of furniture such as writing tables, secretaires and commodes. All of them have the same characteristics: rather crude lines and a somewhat basic frame. We can sense that Carel was not a Parisian master and that he was not subject to the delicate and refined influences of the art practiced by his contemporaries who worked in the capital. Carel, however, was a sound and conscientious cabinetmaker whose works did not lack nobility. Bibliography: Jean Nicolay. L’Art et la manière des maîtres ébénistes français au XVIII° siècle. Guy Le Prat - Editeur. Paris, 1956. Carel, a skillful cabinetmaker who worked toward the middle of the reign of Louis XV, is unfortunately only known by his mark. According to the genre of his works and the provenance of some of them, he seems to have lived in a city in southeastern France. It would be tempting to think that he was the son or relative of a journeyman-cabinetmaker named Jacques-Philippe Carel who worked at Th. Hache in Grenoble and married in that city in 1712. But the latter was Parisian by birth and could very well have been linked to two joiners of the same name who also lived in Paris, Etienne and Nicolas Carel, known for having taken on major projects in the royal houses between 1660 and 1695. Whatever the case, the individual that interests us was among the best regional craftsmen of the period. His furniture, with its firm and supple design, a little heavy perhaps but not at all ungainly, has kept a piquant rural savor. Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art and d’histoire. Paris, 1955, fourth edition.
Charles Guillaume Diehl was born in Steibach (Hesse) in 1811. He set up his business in Paris at 170 rue Saint-Martin in 1840 to produce small pieces of furniture such as sewing tables. He married Zoé-Philippine Vavasseur, who bore him a son who died in 1842. He was listed for the first time in the 1850 Trade Almanach. In 1855, he participated in the Universal Exposition where he obtained a bronze medal. Between 1855 and 1885 he opened cabinetmaking factories at 16, then 21 and lastly 19 rue Michel-le-Comte in Paris. His workshops, located at 39 rue Saint-Sébastien in Paris, employed over 600 people in 1870. To give some idea of his production, his delivery to the Industrial Arts Exhibition in Paris in 1861 can be cited. It included: “A Louis XIII drawing room table, with marquetry in natural wood; a console in black wood and plain bronze with its beveled mirror; a porcelain jardiniere with three columns with three bronze dogs and bronze birds above; an arborvitae jardiniere with three hoofed feet; a pedestal table with two columns and a porcelain plaque; a writing case in arborvitae and bronze… A cellarette with marquetry in the Chinese genre with crystal ornaments; a cupboard in rosewood and porcelain; a cupboard in black wood with marble mosaic panels; a table in black wood with mother-of-pearl and colored copper marquetry.” At the 1867 Universal Exposition, Diehl was awarded a silver medal in the fancy goods category for the originality of his caskets in all styles. The medal cabinet that he presented that year is one of the pieces of furniture most often cited and reproduced at the period. He exhibited it in 1873 at the Universal Exposition of Vienna and obtained a medal of progress. Diehl became a naturalized
French citizen in 1872. He was out of competition in 1878 and died circa
1885.
René Dubois, Queen Marie-Antoinette’s cabinetmaker, was born in 1737 and died in early December 1799. Son and pupil of Jacques Dubois, he was named master at the age of 17 on June 25, 1755, but did not leave the family home, on the rue de Charenton, where he continued to collaborate with his father until the latter’s death in 1763. He then went into partnership with his mother, Marie-Madeleine Brachet, who remained nominal head of the firm as a consequence of which he signed his works with his father’s mark I.DUBOIS. Adopting this mark moreover served to distinguish him from another René Dubois, who was working in Paris in the same profession at the time. Combining a mature talent with the ardor of youth, the master began to assert his worth under favorable circumstances. It was the moment when styles were changing: there was a return to classical traditions and new formulas were being sought and artists had complete freedom to invent them. René Dubois was noticed because of his singular and charming creations. In 1772, the “Tablettes de Renommée” cited him as one of the capital’s leading cabinetmakers. It was doubtlessly the exceptional character of his works that attracted the favor of Marie-Antoinette, as she was infatuated with anything new and daring in art as well as fashion. After having worked for the Dauphine, the master became queen’s cabinetmaker. He was described as such for the first time in the General Merchants Almanach of 1779. That same year, he separated from his wife, Barbe-Marguerite Anthiaume, and starting at that moment, abandoned the workbench to devote himself exclusively to the furniture trade. Having left the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, he opened a shop on the rue Montmartre, at the corner of the rue Saint-Eustache. His mother died in 1784 and he retired from business before the Revolution. He was living on the rue des Orfèvres when he died under the Directoire. Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art and d’histoire. Paris, 1955, fourth edition.
Thomas Hache was born in 1664 in Toulouse and was the son of a master cabinetmaker, Noël Hache. He initially worked in Chambéry then set up in Grenoble in 1699 where he married the daughter of a local master cabinetmaker. His son Pierre, born in 1705, worked with his father until the latter’s death in 1747, the date on which he took over his workshop. Pierre’s own son Jean-François worked with him until he established his own business in 1754. The Italian marquetry in
Hache’s work was initially due to Thomas, who had acquired the Italian
taste when he worked in Chambéry. He used colored wood, lapis lazuli
and scagliola (colored stones ground and bd with glue). He also transposed
the “Boulle” process, replacing the copper and tortoiseshell by light and
dark woods.
Henri Jacob (1753-1824) was
born in Cheny, a small village in Burgundy near Sens, like his first cousin
Georges Jacob. He was named master on September 29, 1779, and lived on
the rue de Bourbon. About 1791, he transferred his workshop to 10 or 20
rue de l’Echiquier. In 1799, he opened a shop at 108 rue Neuve-Saint-Etienne,
at the corner of the the boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle. Starting in 1786,
he worked for the French court, the court of Russia, etc. He retired in
1806.
Bibliography: Bill Pallot.
Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Vol. III. Editions Faton, 1993.
Georges Jacob (1739-1814) was born into a family of farmers in the village of Cheny in Burgundy on July 6, 1739. His parents died when he was quite young and he went to Paris at the age of 16 to learn sculpture on wood. He trained as a journeyman-cabinetmaker with the chair and sofa joiner Jean-Baptiste Lerouge in 1756. When the latter died the following year, Jacob continued his apprenticeship for six more years with Lerouge’s widow. It was in this workshop that he met the journeymen Guillaume Boucault, Pierre Forget and especially Louis Delanois, who had a great influence on him and was also a specialist in seats. Georges Jacob was named master on September 4, 1765. He set up in business on the rue Beauregard and subsequently married the 16-year-old Jeanne-Germaine Loyer, who lived on the same street, in 1767. Shortly after, they moved to the rue de Cléry and then finally, in 1775, to the rue Meslée. They had five children, three sons and two daughters. The eldest, Georges (1768-1803), and the youngest, François-Honoré-Georges (1770-1841), both became cabinetmakers and brilliantly helped their father in his business. Starting in 1781, Georges Jacob was appointed to various positions in the joiners-cabinetmakers guild. He was supplier to the court and the princes. On August 13, 1796, he transferred his firm to his two sons. Georges Jacob II (1768-1803), the son of Georges Jacob and Jeanne-Germaine Loyer, was born in Paris on May 26, 1768. He never married and lived in the family home at 77, rue Meslée. He was exclusively involved with the administration of this enormous enterprise. He and his brother were partners, operating under the name of Jacob Frères, from 1796 until his death. Toward the end of his life, his health worsened and his father, who had always helped and advised his sons, become more involved in the management of the firm. Georges Jacob II died on October 28, 1803. Jacob-Desmalter was the shop
name of the partnership between François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter
(1770-1841) and his father Georges Jacob, which lasted from 1803 to 1813.
They produced and traded in most of the furniture and art objects of the
imperial residences.
Martin Jullien, a furniture
joiner, was named master in Paris on July 23, 1770 and became a deputy
or councillor of his guild. He lived on the rue des Petits-Carreaux for
about 10 years, then moved to the boulevard Poissonnière where he
remained until the Directoire. The “Petites Affiches” of August 21, 1781
announced the sale of “beautiful wood armchairs, chairs and benches, in
walnut and beech, executed after the latest model” by this manufacturer.
His works often imitated, but in a simpler fashion, certain of Jacob’s
seats.
LACROIX
Jean-Pierre Latz (1691-1754)
was born in the electorate of Cologne circa 1691. He arrived in Paris in
1719 and was naturalized in 1736. In May 1739, he purchased the office
of Privileged Cabinetmaker to the King, which absolved him from the obligation
of becoming a master. He worked for Madame Elisabeth, Frederick II of Prussia
and Augustus II of Poland. Legal proceedings of 1849 mention that he chiseled
his own bronzes and owned his models, which would explain the originality
of his furniture’s bronzes. Even though he was in violation of the casters-chiselers
guild regulations, he took charge of his bronzes until the end of his life,
as Charles Cressent and Jacques Confesseur were the experts for his models.
Etienne Meunier became a master circa 1732. He was the first and most eminent of the Meunier dynasty. He produced some furniture, but his talent was especially focused on seats: desk chairs of many kinds, armchairs with light and graceful curved backs, chairs with carefully designed sinuous curves and in particular daybeds of which he made a great many. Etienne Meunier’s style was extremely simple. He limited himself to flower heads used in a very restrained manner to decorate his chairs which, although characterized by a severe line, were always harmonious. Bibliography: Jean Nicolay.
L’Art et la manière des maîtres ébénistes français
au XVIII° siècle. Guy le Prat - Editeur. Paris, 1956.
Three representatives of this family, grandfather, father and son, were master cabinetmakers and dealers during the XVIIIth century. They all had the same first name: Pierre. The first was born sometime between 1670 and 1675. A Calvinist, he married a woman of the same religion about 1700, Judith Mesureur, widow of the cabinetmaker François Collet. Assisted by his wife, he ran a sizeable firm in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the rue de Charenton, opposite the Dames Anglaises convent, in a house where his son and grandson subsequently lived. One of his trade books, now at the Bibliothèque Nationale, shows that he manufactured all types of everyday and luxury furniture. Pierre II, his son and successor, was even more renowned than his father. Born in 1701, he married a young lady by the name of Orry or Horry who bore him a single son and died in 1734. Five years after, he set himself up as a furniture manufacturer and dealer on the rue de Charenton, opposite the Dames Anglaises convent. At this point he was already reasonably prosperous and owned the building in which he worked. The archives of the Seine possess a large ledger written in his hand, in which he mentioned, from this period, on all payments made to his suppliers, their addresses, often with a list of their works and sometimes the names of customers who had placed an order with him. Starting in 1740, he worked for the Menus-Plaisir and the Royal Furniture Repository, supplying Madame de Pompadour, the prince of Soubise and the chancellors of Aguesseau. Migeon obtained his stock from more than 250 craftsmen, among them Jacques Dubois, Criaed, Canabas, R.V.L.C., Mondon and Macret. Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art et d’histoire. Paris, 1953, fourth edition.
Philippe Poirié, the nephew of the joiner Noël Poirié (died 1753) was named master on October 23, 1765. He opened his business on the rue de Charenton in Paris, in the cabinetmakers quarter. He worked under the same shop sign as his uncle—“au Poirier”—until circa 1788. His Louis XV-style chairs are of standard quality. Those in the Louis XVI style were very frequently marked by the transition style of the 1770s. He often used an oval back in his chairs. Bibliography: Bill Pallot.
Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Vol. II. Editions Faton, 1993.
Philippe-Joseph Pluvinet, a Parisian joiner, became a master on July 14, 1754 and shortly thereafter set up his business on the rue de Cléry where he remained until his death in May 1793. He made a name for himself in the production of luxury seats. Louis-Magdeleine Pluvinet,
in all likelihood the son of Philippe-Joseph, became a master on April
19, 1775 and opened his own workshop on the same street—the rue de Cléry.
He died between 1782 and 1785. The works signed with his mark are in no
way less admirable than those of Philippe Pluvinet.
Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art et d’histoire. Paris, 1953, fourth edition.
Pierre Roussel was born in
Paris in 1723, the son of a journeyman cabinetmaker. He was named master
on August 21, 1745, became a juror for his guild in 1762, a deputy in 1777,
deputy syndic in 1779 and head syndic the following year. He practiced
his trade on the rue de Charenton, opposite the rue Saint-Nicolas, below
the image of Saint Peter, his patron. After relatively humble beginnings,
he succeeding in greatly enlarging his business and became a famous cabinetmaker
(one of the leading craftsmen in his profession in the capital). His productions
where as numerous as they were varied and showed an extremely fertile imagination
and very sure talent: the most diverse types of furniture were handled
with equal skill. He received commissions from the prince of Condé
for the Palais Bourbon and the Chantilly château. When he died, his
widow took over the management of his firm, aided by her two sons, Pierre-Michel,
who became a master on August 28, 1766 and Pierre “the Younger,” named
master on August 13, 1771.
Claude Turcot, master joiner in Paris, worked on the rue Saint-Nicolas during the first half of Louis XV’s reign. In 1742, he lodged a complaint for the theft of a table in beautiful walnut that he had found on a neighboring cabinetmaker’s premises, bearing the same mark as those that could be seen on other tables in Turcot’s workshop. Pierre-Claude, his son, also seems to have devoted himself to ordinary cabinetmaking. Named master on July 23, 1734, he married the following year and set up his own business on the rue de Charonne, at the corner of the rue de Lappe, where he continued to practice his trade until his death in 1782. Bibliography: Comte François
de Salverte. Les Ebénistes du XVIII° siècle. Les Editions
d’art et d’histoire. Paris, 1953, fourth edition.
Roger VANDERCRUSE called LACROIX (1728-1799) Roger Vandercruse was
born in 1728 to a free worker-cabinetmaker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
His family was connected to Oeben, Riesner, Guillaume, Levasseur, Pioniez
and Marchand. He was named master in 1749 and married a year later. In
1755, he took over his father’s business and marked his furniture R.V.L.C.
for Roger Vandercruse, gallicized into Lacroix or Delacroix. He delivered
furniture to the cabinetmaker-dealer Pierre Migeon II, to Joubert and to
Poirié. R.V.L.C. excelled in the production of commodes, lady’s
writing desks and small tables. He made furniture for the Crown such as
the commode for the countess of Provence in Fontainbleau in 1771. His works
can be found in the Duc de Roxburgh Collection, the Wildenstein Collection,
the Lurcy Collection, the Alfred de Rothschild Collection and in many museums
such as the Petit Palais and Waddesdon Manor.
Bernard Vanrisamburgh I, of Dutch origin, set up in Paris before 1696 and founded a dynasty of cabinetmakers the last of whom died in 1800: • Bernard Vanrisamburgh I
(died 1738)
Bernard Vanrisamburgh I was named master before 1722. He specialized in the production of bracket clocks, mantel clocks and case clocks in Boulle marquetry. Bernard Vanrisamburgh II was the best known of the family. He obtained the status of master in 1730 and used the mark B.V.R.B. He worked for the king of Portugal, then for the important Parisian furniture dealers such as Hébert, then Lazare Duvaux and Poirié, focusing on luxury furniture with wood, lacquer and porcelain marquetry. Vanrisamburgh’s great specialty was furniture decorated with Japanese lacquer such as the commode he made for the queen and delivered to Fontainebleau in 1737. He supplied a good deal of furniture to the Crown, for example, the secretaire-bookcase for the Trianon in 1755 (now in the Le Mans Museum). Bernard Varisamburgh III,
the son of Bernard II, bought out his father’s cabinetmaking business as
well as the furniture in stock. He seems to have been above all a sculptor
and creator of ormolu models and devoted himself primarily to this profession
after 1775. A series of neoclassic pieces of furniture, dated after 1765
and marked B.V.R.B. prove that he continued to use his father’s mark. These
pieces were done in Japanese lacquer such as the commode with drawers in
the Frick collection.
A cabinetmaker born in the
Rhineland, Weisweiler moved to Paris and set up shop at 67 rue du Faubourg
Saint-Antoine. He married in 1777 and obtained the title of master a year
later. His luxury furniture was sold through the furniture dealers Daguerre
and Julliot. He worked with Riesner and Beneman. His furniture is of outstanding
quality: he used very little marquetry, preferring the play of dark veneers
such as ebony and mahogany. His production primarily consisted of commodes
with folding-joint doors, secretaires in the form of cabinets, furniture
equipped with mechanical means of transformation, console tables and small
pieces (such as pedestal tables with a support in bronze imitating bamboo).
He manufactured furniture for the Crown such as the secretaire for the
private office of Louis XVI at Versailles or the Japanese lacquer table
for that of Marie-Antoinette at Saint-Cloud. Many museums have Weisweiler’s
works—the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art—as do important collections
such as the Wallace and that of the king of Sweden and the queen of England.
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