Jacques-Philippe Carel (1688-1755) reçu maître in 1723.

Provenance:

The French Rothschilds, probably acquired by Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905), hotel Saint-Florentin, Paris and by descent until confiscated by the Einsatstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi occupation.

Restituted to Mme. Eugene de Rothschild on February 27, 1946.

Acquired from Byron Foy, August 1967.

Christie's London, December 14, 2005, lot 360.

Footnote:

Jacques-Philippe Carel, trained in Grenoble in the workshop of Thomas Hache before returning to Paris to establish his practice. His oeuvre reflects the fully developed Parisian taste of the mid-18th century, transitioning from robust Régence-influenced forms to refined rocaille models of notable elegance. Carel is particularly associated with bombe commodes and bureaux de pente, often executed in fine veneers and floral marquetry in richly contrasted woods, occasionally incorporating lacquer panels. His mounts, characteristically rocaille, are finely chased and never overly heavy. Active among an elite clientele, including the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, the court of Sweden, the Prince of Württemberg, and a commode by Carel is located in the Munich Residenz. He supplied furniture through the marchand-ébéniste Gaudreaus for the Marquise de Pompadour and for the daughters of Louis XV, les Mesdames at Versailles.

Related literature:

Pierre Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 2002, pp. 166, 167, 168.

Alexandre Pradère, French Furniture Makers, The Art of the Ébéniste from Louis XIV to the Revolution, Paris 1989, pp. 141, 142, 143, and ill. 115.

See also the Frick collection, New York for the identical commode by Jacques Philippe Carel: accession number 1966.5.128

With its distinctive rocaille encadrement and asymmetrical apron mount, all mirrored by the bois de bout floral marquetry, this commode directly relates to two commodes also executed by Jacques-Philippe Carel in the Frick Collection, New York. These are discussed at length in T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Princeton, 1992, vol., pp. 270-281. As Dell concluded, the Frick commodes belong to an extensive group almost certainly executed for the same marchand-mercier, who appears to have owned the model for the mounts, of which the earliest were supplied between 1745-1749, as they are stamped with the 'C' couronné poinçon. Although the marchand remains unidentified, the ébénistes employed included J.-P. Latz, Pierre II Migeon, M.-E. L'Hermite, H. Hansen, J.-F. Dubut, M. Criaerd and L. Boudin. Interestingly, both Migeon, Criaerd and Boudin were active both as ébénistes and marchands.