Here is a very pretty antique chest of drawers. Louis XVI, It is veneered with rosewood and amaranth, with marquetry of boxwood, pearwood, maple, hornbeam, walnut, blackened pearwood, lemonwood… It is built of oak and softwood. It is stamped twice with the mark of Jean-Baptiste II Tuart. But its maker is probably Jean Lapie.
John the Baptist II Tuart came from a dynasty of Parisian cabinetmakers and merchants. His father, Jean-Baptiste I, obtained his master craftsman's certificate in 1741 and remained active until around 1760. Born around 1720, Jean-Baptiste II was not a master cabinetmaker, but a master furniture maker and haberdasher. He first established himself on Rue Froidmanteau, then on Rue Saint-Honoré. As Alexandre Pradère indicates, contrary to what François de Salverte assumed, it is unlikely that he himself practiced cabinetmaking. He was more likely a dealer and restorer of furniture and objets d'art.
Hence the hypothesis that Tuart commissioned this piece of furniture from Jean Lapie (1734 – ?) Master on July 31, 1736. By sheer chance, I currently have in my workshop a Louis XVI drop-front secretary stamped by Jean Lapie. With a few minor differences, it has the same marquetry elements. After some research, I identified a stylistic feature specific to Lapie: the double flower visible in the photo below. I have found it on several pieces of furniture by this cabinetmaker.
Jean Lapie worked primarily for dealers, so he left few pieces of furniture stamped with his name. This stylistic element could allow us to attribute other pieces to him. If you know of a piece of furniture bearing this double flower, with or without a vase, please let me know; I would be very interested.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- French Furniture of the 18th Century – Pierre Kjellberg – Les Editions de l'Amateur
- French cabinetmakers from Louis XIV to the Revolution – Alexandre Pradère – Editions du Chêne, 1989
State of affairs report
The chest of drawers was in fairly good condition. Apart from a few small chips on the bottom rail, no veneer was missing. The problems: some of the frame joints were coming loose, a few holes were visible, and there was a lot of veneer peeling off all over. In addition, the wood was discolored under the French polish.
The Restoration
The restoration process involved rehydrating and regenerating the adhesives on all the veneered surfaces through infiltration and the application of a slight amount of heat. During this process, several layers of paper absorbed the excess moisture from the infiltrating adhesive. Once the adhesive was dry, the areas where it had penetrated remained bonded to the paper, thus demonstrating the method's effectiveness. A simple cleaning with hot water removed any paper residue.
From an aesthetic standpoint, the most important work then focused on the color of the wood. Once the old varnish was removed, almost all the colors reappeared. This chest of drawers was probably restored about fifty years ago and sanded a little too vigorously: hence the almost new color of the amaranth. This sanding unfortunately also caused some holes, which I filled in using watercolor for color retouching. Most importantly, it removed the top, stained layer of the wood's base for the medallion. In the 18th century, cabinetmakers stained thick veneers. The stain didn't penetrate to the heart of the wood, only the first few millimeters. When you sand these woods, you reach the unstained layer: the marquetry then loses its color in places.
To remedy this, I restored the color by applying moisture and using a vacuum. The color, which remained intact on the back surface, migrated to the front surface, drawn up with the air. This technique generally gives mediocre results, but here the outcome was very satisfactory. Perhaps this is because the background had been tinted during a previous restoration.
I then refinished the chest of drawers with Roubo varnish to preserve and enhance the restored colors. I simply cleaned the bronze mounts with a diluted EDTA solution.
To see previous restorations : https://ebenisterie-mathieuvath.fr/en-ce-moment-a-latelier/
