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A very fine Louis XV Transition Louis XVI oak-lined inlaid marquetry rosewood, kingswood and amaranth petite commode by Pierre Roussel, stamped ROUSSEL, the original moulded shaped rectangular breakfronted white and grey marble top above two drawers decorated overall with a central basket of flowers within interlaced geometric banding flanked either side by floral sprays within conforming banding, each drawer with ring handles and a central ribbon-tied escutcheon above a shaped apron with a foliate cast mount flanked by rounded angles with fluted inlays and headed by laurel-swagged fluted mounts above cabriole legs terminating in scrolled foliate sabots
Paris, date circa 1760-70
Height 83 cm, width 80 cm, depth 45 cm.
Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle”, 1998, p. 740, pl. C, illustrating another Transitional petite commode by Pierre Roussel of similar shape and style but with differing marquetry and an entrelac bronze mounted frieze.
Pierre Roussel (1723-82) can be regarded as one of the foremost ébénistes of his day, equally acclaimed for his diversity, abundance, quality and for his exquisite marquetry work. Celebrated in his lifetime, today one can continue to admire his work in some of the world’s finest collections. Among them are the Parisian Musées des Arts Décoratifs, Carnavalet, Jacquemart-André, Louvre and Petit Palais, as well as the Musées de Beauvais and Poitiers and Decorative Arts Museum, Budapest. Roussel’s work can also be seen at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, the Alten Schloss Ermitage and the Neues Schloss at Bayreuth as well as at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Huntington Collection at San Marino, California.
Roussel was the eldest son of a journeyman ébéniste, Michel Roussel and brother of three menuisiers, Jacques, Michel and Louis. Pierre was received as a maître in 1745 and with his new wife settled in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in rue de Charenton, where he acted as a marchand-ébéniste with a shop at the sign of ‘L’Image de Saint Pierre’. Roussel expanded business and held increasingly higher positions within his guild. He was elected a juré in 1762, député in 1777, syndic adjoint in 1779 and syndic the following year. His patrons included the Prince de Condé, to whom he supplied furniture to the value of 10,000 livres between 1775-80.
Alexandre Pradère’s account of Roussel in “French Furniture Makers”, 1989, p. 205 notes that an inventory of March 1783, following Roussel’s death ‘…reveals the contents of a workshop in full production. The building housed three workshops with seven workbenches as well as a storeroom and a shop’. Roussel left a large stock of over 250 pieces including commodes, dining tables, dressing tables, oval tables, chiffonnières and games tables. A variety of pieces were veneered in bois de rose, bois satiné and amaranth; a number were ornamented with floral, landscape and geometric marquetry as well as lacquer work. Roussel also left a number of marble tops, indicating that his furniture was
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