Antique French Tulipwood Dressing Table Plaques circa 1850

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Antique French Tulipwood Dressing Table Plaques circa 1850

About the Item

This is a gorgeous Antique French serpentine fronted tulipwood and kingwood dressing table with Sevres porcelain plaques, in the Louis XV style, circa 1850 in date. It is made from tulipwood with kingwood crossbanded decoration, has oval hand painted Sevres porcelain plaques with floral motifs and exquisite ormolu mounts. This large adjustable central mirror is surmounted by a beautiful gilded ormolu cherub and is flanked by two canted units comprising two small mirrors above two small serpentine doors with Sevres porlelain plaques. There serpentine base has two capacious drawers over two doors, enclosing one shelf and stands on a serpentine, plinth base. The handles and lock are all original. It is an absolutely lovely model which is an example of superb quality and design even today. Condition: You are viewing this item in its excellent original untouched condition. Any restoration that is required will be accomplished before delivery and is included in the price. Dimensions in cm: Height 182 x Width 111 x Depth 41 Dimensions in inches: Height 71.7 x Width 43.7 x Depth 16.1 Tulipwood is most commonly, the pinkish yellowish wood yielded from the tuliptree. It is found on the Eastern side of North America and also in some parts of China. In the United States, it is commonly known as tulip poplar or yellow poplar, even though the tree is not related to the poplars. In fact, the reference to poplar is a result of the tree's height, which can exceed 100 feet. The wood is very light, around 490 kg per cubic meter, but very strong and is used in many applications, including furniture, joinery and moldings. It can also be stained very easily and is often used as a low-cost alternative to walnut and cherry in furniture and doors. Kingwood - has a defined grain with darker brown and black patterned outlines contrasting against a lighter background. A native wood of Brazil, Kingwood was a popular choice for late Georgian, William IV and early Victorian boxes, but seemed to lose favour from the late 1850′s onwards. It is very often confused with rosewood. Sevres Porcelain traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738. French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles. From the outset the king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed. The Sevres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contributed to the difficulties. Only a limited number of European nobility could afford the extravagant prices demanded for such works. King Louis XV and eventually his heir, the ill-fated Louis XVI, were obliged to invest heavily in the enterprise. Ultimately, the Sevres Porcelain Factory produced items under the name of "Royal" and thus the well-known Sevres mark was born. King Louis XV even mandated laws that severely restricted other porcelain production in France so as to retain a near monopoly for his Sevres Porcelain. The king even willingly became chief salesman for the finest of his products, hosting an annual New Year's Day showing for French nobility in his private quarters at Versailles. He eagerly circulated among potential buyers, pitching the merits of ownership and policing the occasional light-fingered guest. Sevres Porcelain may have indeed given the makers of Meissen and Dresden a run for their money by the end of the 18th Century but for the French Revolution. By 1800, the Sevres Porcelain Works were practically out of business due to the economic devastation of the new French Republic. About the time when Napoleon Bonaparte named himself Emperor of France (1804), a new director was named for the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. Alexandre Brongniart, highly educated in many fields, resurrected Sevres Porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain was eliminated altogether thanks to the earlier discovery of kaolin near Limoges. For four decades until his death, Brongniart presided over monumental progress for Sevres Porcelain, catering not only to Napoleon himself, but at last to include the more financially profitable mid-priced market in the emerging middle class. Ormolu (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil).

Materials and Techniques:
Tulipwood
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
c. 1850
Condition:
You are viewing this item in its excellent original untouched condition. Any restoration that is required will be accomplished before delivery and is included in the price.
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 054711stDibs: LU95061004992