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Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

ca. 1787
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 529
This may have been the last piece that Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796), a dealer in luxury goods, delivered to Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) at the château de Versailles. A porcelain-mounted secretary was, in fact, among the treasured possessions the queen entrusted to Daguerre for safekeeping in October 1789, shortly after a mob invaded the palace and the royal family was forced to return to the château des Tuileries in Paris. Bouillat, one of the best flower painters at Sèvres, may well have painted the beautiful ribbon-tied bouquet on the central plaque. The blue pointillé border was probably the work of Madame Taillandier who, with her husband Vincent, specialized in this decoration. The factory's paper label, printed with the interlaced L's and inscribed with the price (336 lives), is pasted on the back of the rectangular plaque.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)
  • Maker: Attributed to Adam Weisweiler (French, 1744–1820)
  • Manufactory: Porcelain plaques made by Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present)
  • Decorator: Porcelain plaques decorated by Edme François Bouillat père (French,1739/40–1810, active 1758–1800)
  • Decorator: Porcelain plaques decorated by Geneviève Taillandier (active 1774–98)
  • Factory: Jasperware medallions by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons (British, Etruria, Staffordshire, 1759–present)
  • Maker: Some mounts by Pierre Rémond (French, Paris 1747–1812 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1787
  • Culture: French, Paris and Sèvres
  • Medium: Oak veneered with burl thuya, amaranth, mahogany, satinwood, holly, and ebonized holly; painted metal; one soft-paste porcelain plaque; fifteen jasper medallions; gilt-bronze mounts; marble; leather (not original)
  • Dimensions: Overall: 51 × 27 × 16 in. (129.5 × 68.6 × 40.6 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.75.57
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Audio

Cover Image for 2257. Drop-front Secretary on stand (Secrétaire íæ abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

2257. Drop-front Secretary on stand (Secrétaire íæ abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

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ca. 1788–90
Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet), Martin Carlin French, Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly, and sycamore; six Sèvres soft-paste porcelain plaques and two painted tin plaques; gilt-bronze mounts; marble shelves; moiré silk, French, Paris and Sèvres
Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)
Attributed to Martin Carlin
Manufactory Sèvres Manufactory
Decorator Central plaque decorated by Edme François Bouillat père
ca. 1776
Bottle cooler from the Louis XV service (seau à bouteille), Vincennes Manufactory French, Soft-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels, gold, French, Vincennes
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Manufactory Vincennes Manufactory
Modeler Attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis
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Armor of Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias (1707–1724), Jean Drouart French, Steel, gold, brass, silk, cotton, metallic yarn, paper, French, Paris
Armor of Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias (1707–1724)
Armorer Signature probably refers to Jean Drouart
dated 1712
Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet), Martin Carlin French, Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly, and ebonized holly; ten soft-paste porcelain plaques; gilt-bronze mounts; marble; velvet (not original), French, Paris and Sèvres
Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)
Multiple artists/makers
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