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Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen
An Exceptional Louis XVI Style Commode à Vantaux, After The Model By Adam Weisweiler
£78,000
An Exceptional Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Burr Thuyawood and Mahogany Commode à Vantaux, By Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, After The Model By...
Dimensions
Height: 94 cm (38 in)Largeur : 137 cm (54 in)
Profondeur : 56 cm (23 in)
ImprimerDescription
An Exceptional Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Burr Thuyawood and Mahogany Commode à Vantaux, By Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, After The Model By Adam Weisweiler.
The inset white marble top above a long frieze drawer. The front with a double-hinged and bolted folding door to the right, and a single door to the left. The interior fitted with two adjustable shelves. The angles with stop-fluted columns, on toupie feet.
Stamped twice ‘CHLES WINCKELSEN / 21 Rue St Louis / (AU MARAIS)’.
France, Circa 1860.
This commode is of exceptional quality as becoming of one of the finest and most prized ébénistes of the Second Empire period, Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen. The design is based on a celebrated model made by Adam Weisweiler (1744–1820) and delivered by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre to the Garde Robe of Louis XVI at Versailles shortly before the revolution. At the time, the restrained and elegant design was considered to represent the plain beauty of English furniture and was part of the goût anglais popular in the 1770s and 80s. Examples were made by Weisweiler in burr-yew, thuyawood or mahogany and on occasion embellished with Japanese lacquer door panels.
The present commode is most similar to one stamped ‘A. Weisweiler’ now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Acc. No. 25.161).
The commode à vantaux by Adam Weisweiler circa 1785 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/195414 (Image: Public Domain).
Like that example, this 19th century replica is distinguished by the combination of mahogany and North African thuyawood with its distinctive burl. Also identical, but veneered in acajou moiré, is a commode in the Musée du Louvre (Inv. No. OA 5232).
The related commode attributed to Weisweiler in the Musée du Louvre (© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / image RMN-GP).
The continuation of the model into the mid-19th century is testament to the timeless elegance of the design. Winckelsen was one of the earliest Parisian ébénistes to respond to the demand for replicas of royal furniture from the ancien regime. The revival for authentic copies of celebrated Louis XVI furniture was in response to the fashions of the Napoleon III period when Empress Eugénie sought to emulate the opulence and artistic achieves of the Bourbon golden age.
The quality of this commode is so exact that it should be seen not merely as a replica but as a continuation in the tradition of Paris cabinetmaking worthy of the les ébénistes de la Couronne. The construction, quality and patterning of the veneers, and the casting and gilding of the mountings, are first-class. When Winckelsen died in 1871 Henry Dasson bought from his widow his workshops and remaining stock. Dasson continued to make many models which had been conceived by Winckelsen, rebranding them, and it is Dasson who is the more famous maker today. When seen firsthand, even when producing the same model, there are differences between the workmanship of Winckelsen and Dasson. However, it can be said that the refinement of the cabinetry to Winckelsen’s furniture outshines even that of his more famous successor.
Date
Circa 1880
Origine
France
Moyen
Acajou et bronze doré
Signature
Stamped twice ‘CHLES WINCKELSEN / 21 Rue St Louis / (AU MARAIS)’.
The atelier of Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen is one of the undiscovered secrets of the Second Empire exhibition period. Established at 23 Val-Sainte-Catherine, Paris in 1854, it flourished until his death in 1871. As a result of his comparatively short career very little of his work is available today.
Born in 1817, at the new dawn of the Bourbon dynasty, Winckelsen died in 1871 as the Third republic was being formed. Thus his whole philosophy of design, alongside his contemporaries, was one of maintaining the emblems of the ancien regime. In re-using motifs from the eighteenth century Winckelsen favoured the Louis XVI style without reverting to simple pastiche.
Winckelsen’s bronze casting was of the highest quality, easily on a level with the celebrated Thomiere in the early years of the century. He re-created all of his moulds, never re-using or simply copying existing models.
His business was sold by his widow in July 1871 to the celebrated Henri Dasson, who thus was able to use the exquisite collection of master patterns built up by Winckelsen to great effect.
Bibliographie :
Ledoux-Lebard, Denise. Les Ebenistes du XIX siècle, Les Editions de l’Amateur (Paris), 1984; pps 635-8.
