A Fine Marquetry Inlaid Commode, After Georg Haupt

Paul Sormani (1817 – 1877)
Ursule-Marie-Philippine Sormani (d. 1884)
Paul-Charles Sormani (1848-?)
Henri-Alfred Sormani (1859-?)

Paul Sormani is reported to have been born in 1817, however this is inconsistent with records showing that the Maison Sormani was established in Paris in 1825. An Italian surname gives rise to another inconsistency, that Sormani was from Lombardy. Of course, both discrepancies might be explained as perhaps referring instead to his father.

What is known, it that in 1841 Paul Sormani is listed in the Almanach du Commerce when he married in 1847, to the daughter of a bronze founder, the marriage contract shows an established business. At the 1849 Exposition des produits de l’industrie française, M. Paul Sormani is noted to have been in business for twenty-five years and to have a factory at 7 Cimetière Saint-Nicolas.

Like the firms of Tahan or Giroux, Sormani initially made small items such as boxes and nécessaires remarked upon for the quality of their marquetry. At the 1855 Paris Expositon, Sormani was applauded for his luxurious cabinetmaking but also for all manner of diverse objects, such as cigar boxes and liquor cabinets of porcelain and glass. His small pieces of furniture were said to bear the stamp of true distinction. Sormani was one of the first to make luxurious leather bags and travel kits and in 1860 advertised as a ‘fabricant de Nécessaires, Trousses et Sacs de Voyage, Petits Meubles de fantaisie’ with a shop at 114 rue du Temple relocating to 10 rue Charlot in 1867.

Luggage continued to be the mainstay of the business until the turn of the century, and it is probable that the production of such smaller items provided the profits necessary to invest in the creation of larger, luxurious and more costly meubles d’art. A change in the ambitions of the firm had certainly begun by 1867 when, at the Paris Exposition of that year, Sormani exhibited a cabinet “of light woods, profusely ornamented with ormolu” designed for them by Eugène Prignot.

Cabinet-on-stand designed by Eugène Prignot and shown by Sormani at the 1867 Paris Exposition universelle (The Art Journal illustrated catalogue of the Universal Exhibition, 1867, p. 294).

As well as creating new designs inspired by the historical styles, Sormani specialised in making replicas of celebrated pieces by the royal ébénistes of the ancien régime. Sormani is known to have copied period furniture from the Jones Collection at the V&A Museum and the famous bureau and cartonnier purchased by the Duc d’Aumale from the Duke of Hamilton’s sale in 1882 for 5,565 francs.

Advertisement from 1882 showing Sormani’s replica of Boulle’s armoire ‘le médaillier’ at Versailles.

Paul Sormani died in 1877 and the firm is continued by his widow and their sons Paul and Henri Sormani and accordingly, thereafter known as ‘Veuve Sormani & Fils’. From this time Sormani adopts the signature ‘Vve P. Sormani & Fils 10. Rue Charlot Paris’ but after the death of his mother in 1884 reverts to signing ‘Paul Sorman 10. Rue Charlot Paris’. Most often the signature is engraved to the lock plate on a piece of furniture, however ‘SORMANI PARIS’ stamped to the carcass is also found. Pieces signed with the address 134 Boulevard Haussmann are associated with the firm’s partner Charles Thiébaux and date to after circa 1913.

Sormani typically signs to the lockplate ‘P. SORMANI PARIS 10 rue Charlot’.

Sormani continued to be awarded medals at all the subsequent great exhibitions of the century including St. Petersburg in 1889 and Chicago in 1893. At the Paris Exposition universelle of 1900, Sormani was awarded the Grand Prix for their copies of celebrated 18^th century models:

“One could not conclude better than by saying that it is here, assembled and made by masters, the Salon Carré of French furniture” (Rapports du Jury international de L’Exposition Unverselle de 1900, Groupe XII. pp.131-132).

 

Replicas of famous models commended for their quality shown by Sormani at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.

An advert for the Sormani showrooms from 1910.

Sormani’s production reached a highpoint during the opening decade of the 20^th century with sizable and prestigious commission for Queen Maria Pia of Portugal for the Ajuda Palace and for the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York.

There are many pieces of furniture by Sormani at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York. Supplied by the dealer-decorator Georges A. Glaenzer of New York and Paris, the commission included a dressing table, writing table and two important commodes for the bedroom of Louise Vanderbilt. Elsewhere, in the living room, there is a tea table and cabinet furniture. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/hyde-park-interior-design-sources-codman-s-eye.htm

A Rare Boulle Marquetry Cabinet By Paul Sormani (Collection Adrian Alan)

Bibliography:

Ledoux – Lebard, Denise. Les Ébénistes du XIXe siècle, Les Editions de L’Amateur, (Paris), 1984; pp. 583-588.

Meyer, Jonathan.  Great Exhibitions – London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, 1851-1900, Antique Collectors’ Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2006.

Mestdagh, Camille & Lécoules, Pierre. L’Ameublement d’art français : 1850-1900, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 2010.

Payne, Christopher. Paris Furniture – the luxury market of the 19^th century, Éditions Monelle Hayot, (Paris), 2018; pp.513-527

Brackett, Oliver, Catalogue of The Jones Collection, Part I – Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1922, No. 88, p. 27., p. 47.

Payne, Christopher. Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, Editions Monelle Hayot, Paris, 2018; p. 218 (another commode of this model by Sormani illustrated).

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94147/commode-haupt-georg/