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Small Upright Writing Cabinet

Attributed (French, 1723-1782, master 1745)
Additional Title(s)
  • Secrétaire en Cabinet
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
Date1760-1770
Mediumoak carcase veneered with marquetry of stained and natural-colored boxwood on sycamore ground with boxwood stringing and a purplewood border set in tulipwood; gilt-bronze mounts
Dimensions39 1/4 x 28 1/2 x 13 in. (99.7 x 72.4 x 33 cm.)
DescriptionWriting cabinet on stand with lower shelf. Entire object has marquetry reserves of rustic scenes and military trophies.
InscribedStamped twice on the bottom rail of the cabinet: R; stamped near one of the Rs, but not as part of the same die: K.
MarkingsStamped twice on the bottom rail of the cabinet: R; stamped near one of the Rs, but not as part of the same die: K.
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.
Label TextThis writing cabinet was most likely made, or at least retailed by, Pierre Roussel, whose stamp appears on a similar piece in the Cleveland Museum of Art. However, the design and decoration of the Huntington cabinet are very close to the work of two Parisian workshops, those of Roussel and Léonard Boudin (1735-1807). The marquetry panels with sprays of flowers, as on the shelf of the cabinet, and musical instruments, as on its lower sides, as well as the framing à grecque are in the manner of Roussel's work. The neoclassical urn-shaped vases on the cabinet sides and back are typical of his highly stylized still-life designs, whereas the military attributes decorating the cabinet front are in close keeping with Boudin's style of pictorial marquetry. At least some of the panels used by both workshops, and others in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, are likely to have been supplied by specialist marquetry cutters. For example, the panel of floral marquetry on the shelf and the naïve rural scenes on the top and lower front of the secrétaire were used in a number of the workshops in the faubourg. The use of a pictorial marquetry panel to decorate the staves of the tambour is unusual and technically demanding, which suggests that the piece was made in a workshop that was extremely familiar with the fitting of marquetry panels to furniture of many forms.
Roussel and Boudin were part of the faubourg's woodworking community. Until about 1768, they each supplied Pierre Migeon II and II (1701-1758 and 1733-1775, respectively), marchands ébénistes (furniture dealers) who represented their own and neighboring workshops. Thereafter, Roussel and Boudin established their own shops and themselves subcontracted to local cabinetmakers, such as J.-L. Cosson, N. Petit, and F. Reizell, any of whom may have had a hand in the making of this piece.

Status
Not on view
Object number27.101
Fall-Front Desk
Pierre Roussel
ca. 1760
Object number: 78.20.63
Writing Table
Bernard Molitor
ca.1788-1796
Object number: 16.12
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1767-1770
Object number: 27.128
Mechanical Writing Table
Jean-François Oeben
1755-1765
Object number: 27.185
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Martin Carlin
1781
Object number: 27.20
Small Fall-Front Desk
Adrien Faizelot Delorme
1750-1760
Object number: 78.20.64
Chest of Drawers
Martin Carlin
ca. 1775
Object number: 11.31
Fall-front secretary
Martin Carlin
ca. 1775
Object number: 11.32
Fall-front Secretary
Bernard Molitor
secretary: 1812-1816; plaques: center:1783, left:1774, right:1777
Object number: 27.22
Writing Desk
Charles Cressent
1723-1730
Object number: 27.18
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Pierre Garnier
1762-1765
Object number: 11.28
Table
Unknown
1750-1760
Object number: 78.20.66