Jean Henri Riesener
Jean-Henri Riesener (
".Life and career
Riesener was born in
He used floral and figural
He completed the Bureau du Roi, which had been started in 1760, under his predecessor and master, Oeben; his name alone appears in the marquetry.[10]
The floral designs were derived from the Livre de Principes de Fleurs, an undated compilation of engravings of flowers by Juste Chevillet after drawings by Louis Tessier.[11]
In 1774 he delivered the commode for the bedroom of Louis XVI at Versailles, now in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.[12] An even richer commode replaced it the following year (now at the Musée Condé, Chantilly).
The drop-front secretary (sécretaire à abattant) initially designed by Oeben, or by Riesener in Oeben's workshop, presents a vertical rectangle of superposed panels and a frieze, on short legs. The upper panel drops down to provide a writing surface, revealing a fitted interior.
From 1784, with France near bankruptcy, the pace of court commissions dropped radically; Thierry de Ville d'Avray succeeded Pierre-Elizabeth de Fontanieu at the Garde-Meuble le la Couronne and turned for necessary economy to less expensive suppliers, such as Guillaume Beneman; Riesener's last pieces for the court featured sober but richly-figured West Indian mahogany veneers and more restrained use of gilt-bronze mounts. Queen Marie Antoinette continued to favour Riesener through the 1780s
With the French Revolution, Riesener was retained by the Directory, and sent in 1794 to Versailles to remove the "insignia of feudality" from furniture he had recently made: royal cyphers and
The Riesener Project
Jean-Henri Riesener and his furniture was the subject of a six-year research project carried out by curators and conservators at the Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor and the Royal Collection. Close examination of the thirty pieces of Riesener furniture in the three collections, along with art historical and archival research, revealed much that was previously unknown about the materials and techniques the cabinetmaker used, as well as his workshop practices. The Project also explored the development of the market for Riesener's furniture in the nineteenth century, and the influence that his designs and cabinetmaking techniques had on later furniture-makers.[13]
The findings of the Project led to the publishing of the first major monograph on Riesener,[14] while the detailed technical examination of the materials, structure and condition of the objects that took place, along with scientific analysis, allowed for interactive 3D models to be created. The models reveal the great complexity involved in making such furniture, as well as Riesener's ingenuity and resourcefulness as a craftsmen. They can be explored through a comprehensive microsite and trail dedicated to Riesener, along with catalogue entries, essays, videos and isometric drawings.[15]
Collections
As a result of the French Revolutionary Sales in the early nineteenth century, UK collectors had bought for the decoration of their stately homes and palaces significant numbers of French royal furniture (mobilier royal), which today forms the basis of the great collections that still remain in the UK. Towards the end of the industrial age until the agricultural depression of the 1920s, large numbers of works, predominately in UK collections were auctioned off and made their passage to American collectors. Still to this date UK collections are especially rich in the works of French furniture and decorative arts, particularly of Royal provenance, and the UK continues to enjoy perhaps the greatest repository of Riesener's works outside Paris.
Writing-table
Described as a "flat-sided rectangular table, break-fronted on all four sides, which is supported on four straight tapering legs, square in section with indented corners",[1] Riesener's French Writing-Tables were normally extremely fine in the modelling of gilt-bronze mounts.
Table à écrire, c. 1770s, delivered to Marie-Antoinette for the Petit Trianon,
Writing Table, 1777, Waddesdon Manor, UK
Writing Table, 1778-1787, Waddesdon Manor, UK
Bureau, 1780–85,
Writing Table, 1780-85, Waddesdon Manor, UK
Writing table and filing cabinet, 1780,
Writing table, 1780, Waddesdon Manor, UK
Table à écrire, c. 1780, National Gallery of Art, United States
Bureau, 1783,
Table à écrire, c. 1784, delivered to Marie-Antoinette for the palais des Tuileries, National Gallery of Art, United States
Bureau à cylindre
- Bureau à cylindre (Palace of Versailles, France
- Bureau à cylindre, 1777-1781 [1], for Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Waddesdon Manor, UK
"The inscription on both states that the desk was made by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) for Beaumarchais for 85,000 francs, although these claims are unproven."[16]
- Bureau à cylindre, c. 1774, delivered to the UK
- Bureau à cylindre, 1774, delivered to the UK
- Bureau à cylindre, 1774, UK
- Rolltop desk, 1775 [3], Waddesdon Manor, UK
- Bureau à cylindre, c. 1775, UK
- Bureau à cylindre, c. 1775/1785, National Gallery of Art, United States
- Bureau à cylindre, 1784, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's 'Cabinet intérieur' at the palais des Tuileries, Musée du Louvre, France
- Bureau à cylindre, c. 1785, UK
Cabinet
Jewel-cabinet, delivered to the Comtesse de Provence, c. 1787,
Commode
Commode, c. 1774, delivered to Louis XVI's "Chambre du Roi" at Versailles,
Commode, c. 1775–80,
Commode, c. 1775-80, Waddesdon Manor, UK
The carcase of this commode is of oak and veneered with purplewood and mahogany (referred to as bois satiné). The marquetry is carved from sycamore,
UKCommode, c. 1782, delivered to Marie-Antoinette for Chateau de Marly,
UKCommode, 1782, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's 'Cabinet' at the Chateau de Marly,
Musée du Louvre, FranceCommode,
UKEncoignure
Paire de encoignure, delivered to Louis XVI's "Chambre du Roi" at Versailles, c. 1774,
UKEncoignure, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's cabinet intérieur at Versailles, c. 1783,
UKEncoignure, supplied to Monsieur Fontanieu for his Hotel du Garde Meuble, Place Louis XV, 1773,
UKJewel coffer et secrétaire
Jewel coffer et secrétaire, 1775–80,
UKMarquetry Panel
Panel, as part of a table-top delivered to Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon at Versailles (Riesener's largest and finest marquetry execution), 1776, V&A, UK
Petit table
Petit table, c. 1785,
UKPetit table, 1777, delivered to Marie-Antoinette for the use of Louis XVI at the Petit Triannon, Versailles,
UKPetit table, delivered to the 'cabinet intérieur' for Marie Antoinette at Versailles,
UKSecrétaire
Secrétaire, c. 1780–4,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's cabinet intérieur at Versailles, c. 1780,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's cabinet intérieur at Versailles, c. 1783,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, delivered to Marie-Antoinette's Petit Triannon at Versailles, c. 1783,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, c. 1780–4,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, c. 1780s,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, delivered to Louis XVI's "cabinet" at the Petit Trianon, 1777,
UKSecrétaire à abattant, 1783, delivered (with a commode and encoignure) to the 'cabinet intérieur' for Marie Antoinette at Versailles,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, United StatesSecrétaire à abattant, c. 1775, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Switzerland
Secrétaire à abattant, called the Guerault secrétaire, c. 1770–75, (sold in Paris, 21–22 March 1935)
Secrétaire à abattant, called the Fontanieu secrétaire, c. 1771, (sold Christie's, 5 December 1974)
Secrétaire à abattant, called the Bergsten secrétaire, c. 1770–75, (sold Christie's, 23 June 1999)
Secrétaire à abattant, called the Wernher secrétaire, c. 1763–68, (sold Christie's, 5 July 2000)
Table de toilette
Table de toilette, c. 1780–4,
UKToilet et bureau
Toilet et bureau, c. 1780–4,
UKSee also
Notes
- ^ a b Geoffrey de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, II (1974), p. 879.
- ^ 6 August 1768, thus sharing her tenantcy under royal favor in workshops at the Arsenal (Watson 1966:555).
- ^ Succeeding the aged Gilles Joubert.
- ^ Francis J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection II (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 1966, p. 555.
- ^ Watson 1966:555.
- ^ Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France 1974, p. 219.
- ^ Case furniture, such as tables, commodes and cabinets, were clearly distinguished in France from seat furniture, which was made by menuisiers.
- ^ Illustrated in Pierre Verlet, French Furniture and Interior Decoration of the 18th Century (1967), p 26.
- ^ Most cabinet-makers had to purchase their mounts ready-made from ciseleurs-doreurs. Riesener collaborated with Pierre Gouthière on many royal commissions of the 1780s.
Stanislas Leszczynski, now in the Wallace Collection, London. JSTOR 23410056- ^ Illustrated
- ^ "The Riesener Project". wallacecollection.org. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
ISBN 978-1-78130-090-9.- ^ "Jean-Henri Riesener". wallacecollection.org. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ Roy, Emily (26 November 2018). "Roll-top desk, Waddesdon manor".
- ^ 30 March 1776, Journal du Garde-Meuble, Archives Nationale
- ^
OCLC 728116780.- ^
OCLC 728116780.External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Henri Riesener.
- Riesener microsite (Wallace Collection, UK)
- Riesener Trail (Royal Collection Trust, UK)
- Marie Adélaide's roll-top desk, c. 1775 Film
- Riesener chest of drawers 3D Animation
- Jean-Henri Riesener (Getty Museum, US)
- Drop-front secretary, veneered with ebony and black Japanese lacquer, for Marie Antoinette's cabinet intérieur at Versailles, 1783 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, US)
- Riesener microsite (Royal Collection, UK)
- Jean-Henri Riesener (Waddesdon Manor, UK)
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Riesener, Jean Henri". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- "
New International Encyclopedia. 1905.