Perret et Vibert, Japanese Style Armoire Bamboo Imitation, Lacquer Decor, 1880s

Pouf in gilded wood in imitation of bamboo, round in shape, decorated with spinning tops in the central part. Crowbar-shaped, ribbed base. Velvet fabric and black quilted with its tr...

Louis XV style living room table opening with two front drawers on two levels without crossbar and standing on four curved legs. Lacquer decor with a black background adorned with go...

Pair of Chippendale style armchairs in red lacquered wood standing on four legs: cabriole front legs with a decor of cartouche, foliage and shell, claw and ball feet. Sabre back legs...

Pair of Chippendale style chairs in red lacquered wood standing on four legs: cabriole front legs with a decor of cartouche, foliage a...

Large cabinet opening by three door leaves in black lacquered wood with a red lacquered decor and gilt highlights. Rectangular body in carved and bla...

Baluster-shaped Japanese porcelain lamp with floral decoration, in blue tones. Gilt bronze mount. Quadripod base, top of the frame adorned with gilt rhinestones. Work realized cir...

A Japanese style carved wood cabinet, with a painted decor imitating Japanese lacquer, ornamented with flowers, birds and butterflies. Opening onto two drawers and a paper filer, the upright-secretary door is also fitted with red velvet. Surmounted by a drawer and asymmetrical shelves, composed in the Japanese « zen » spirit, the cabinet stands on four legs joined by an engraved stretcher. The great influence of the Far-East, through China and Japan, in the second half of the 19th century French art could be found first in painting and soon after in decorative arts and furniture as well. Following the Franco-English military campaign led in 1860 against the Imperial army in China, the French troops of Napoleon III brought back from the Summer Palace, a part of the Chinese Imperial court treasure, which will make up the famous Chinese Museum of Empress Eugénie at the Fontainebleau Palace. The French artists won’t be long to take inspiration from those exotic and sumptuous objects for their creations, as they used to do in the 18th century, when the best French cabinet-makers adapted the Chinese lacquers on the luxurious royal chests. But the influence of Japan, at the Meiji period (1868-1912), came also very quickly to France, thanks to the opening of the country in the middle of the 19th century, as well as the development of traveling and the amazing Universal Exhibitions, in which Japan participated for the first time in 1867 in Paris. Then many Japanese objects and prints were imported to France and to all Europe, and for which some collectors spent already fortunes. With Manet and Impressionists generation, the passion for Japanese art, more than a simple taste for an exotic style, was still in fashion until the turn of the 19th century. It provoked not only a craze among the French aristocratic families as well as the wealthy Paris high society, wishing renew their mansion inner decoration, but turned also to a real revolutionary movement among the “avant-garde” artists. Those artists, whoever they were, painters, cabinet-makers or designers of ceramic, bronze and crystal objects, adapted then those techniques and naturalistic motifs unknown until this time. Christofle, very famous since 1867 as a silversmith, was also one of the leaders among the inventors of Japanism. He knew how to use Japanese elements to his own splendid works made in silver or “cloisonné” enameled bronze. During the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition, Christofle presented with great success his life-sized bronze Japanese ladies torcheres, executed by the renowned sculptor Guillemin. Another famous company to be mentioned, is “L’Escalier de Cristal”, producing art objects and furniture, all of high standard quality and innovating much with their Japanese decor. Highly remarked during the Universal Exhibitions, “L’Escalier de Cristal” collaborated with the greatest artists, such Gallé and Rousseau for glass- and ceramic wares, and the cabinet-makers Lièvre and Viardot, whom made furniture including sometimes authentic Japanese elements. In 1872, Alfred Perret and Ernest Vibert opened in Paris, at 33 rue du Quatre-Septembre a store that offered “natural bamboo furniture and cane seats” and all kinds of textile fittings for furniture. This furniture used for winter gardens and terraces of mansions knew then a resounding success. They developed their business around 1884 with their Japanese style furniture, very close to that executed by Gabriel Viardot (1830-1906). In 1886, the company appearing in the category of “Chinoiserie and Japoneries” offered, in addition to furniture and seating creation, works of art and inlaid furniture directly imported from the Far East ; an activity that expanded rapidly. Their exotic fantasy furniture presented at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1889 and 1900, rewarded them two silver medals. In 1894, the company was listed under the name “Perret et Vibert”, headed by the son of Alfred Perret and Ernest Vibert. The same year, they redesigned their store on rue du Quatre-Septembre, creating ten new show-rooms, showing complete furniture sets of Japanese and Chinese style inspiration. It was not until 1895, that the company was finally named “La Maison des Bambous” and organized then in their shops an “exhibition of country furniture and seats for castles and villas”, which was visited by Empress Eugenie to furnish her villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin. She actually was a regular customer of the “Maison des Bambous” as she bought repeatedly furniture. In October of the same year, the king of Greece...

Antique 19th Century Bamboo Lacquered Display Stand, Perret And Vibert, France. C.1880 In very good condition commensurate of age.

Antique 19th Century Lacquered Etagere Perret And Vibert, France C.1890 In very good condition commensurate of age.

EDWARDIAN INLAID-SATINWOOD MIRRORED THREE-DOOR ARMOIRE WARDROBE England, ca. 1880 Item # 403UHV18Z An unusually nice and relevant three-door armoire from the Edwardian period, this ...

Asian Chinese-style (19th Century) large carved and lacquered armoire cabinet with side shelves and filigree carved pediment on base

There is a sense of reveal and conceal as KOKET takes a beautiful armoire in high gloss lacquer and adorns it in metal organic lace, revealing a mesmerizing hint of what lies beneath...