Thomas Moore
Head of Department
Lot 36TP
A late Louis XV ormolu mounted tulipwood, amaranth and stained sycamore coffre a bijoux by Pierre Roussel (1723-1782)
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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A late Louis XV ormolu mounted tulipwood, amaranth and stained sycamore coffre a bijoux by Pierre Roussel (1723-1782)
Circa 1770, with quarter and half veneering, the inlaid borders with interlaced angles, the hinged top enclosing a bois satine interior above a dummy drawer, one drawer enclosing ten compartments, with a dummy drawer below, the hinged fall front with a gilt-tooled leather inset underside, with handles to the sides, on a stand with shaped and canted angles, with an egg-and-dart moulded edge mount, over one long frieze drawer, on slender cabriole legs terminating in husk capped foliate scrolled sabots, the underside stamped: 'P. ROUSSEL', 55cm wide x 41cm deep x 102cm high, (21 1/2in wide x 16in deep x 40in high)
Footnotes
Pierre I Roussel, recu maître en 1745.
The offered lot is illustrated in F. Quere, Les Roussel, Une Dynastie d'Ebenistes au XVIIIeme Siecle, 2012, Dijon, pp.'s 148-9. This is evidently one of only a couple of known stamped coffres a bijoux of this type produced by Roussel. The date and quality of this jewellery casket on stand suggest that after being executed in Pierre Roussel's cabinet making firm it was then possibly supplied to his son Pierre-Michel's shop, which specialised in retailing such luxury items. This shop was located on the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.
This rare form of furniture belongs to a small and select group of serre bijoux mainly executed on commission for the most famous marchands-mercier of the 18th century such as Pierre Migeon. The other celebrated Roussel model made during the period 1760-5, which likewise features in Quere's book and sold Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, Magnificent French Furniture, lot 45, also incorporates marquetry in contrast to the slightly later plain Transitional style of the present lot.
During the period 1775-80, Roussel provided the Prince de Conde with furniture worth a total of 10,000 livres. He was also known to have employed renowned bronziers such as Ravrio and Turchin, while Trufot would often do the gilding for his mounts. Both of Roussel's sons, Pierre Michel and Pierre II, who took over the running of their father's firm following the latter's death, operated as maitre-ebenistes.
