A fine and rare pair of Louis XVI ormolu-mounted ebony encoignures circa 1772, stamped I. Dubois, attributed to the Widow Dubois and her son René Dubois

each with a later serpentine-fronted molded marble top, the case in the form of a brass-fluted truncated column fitted with a cupboard door mounted by bow-knotted ribbon-tied floral wreaths, the bow-fronted base with a reeded ormolu border entwined with ribbon above a deep oak leaf wreath. Each originally fitted with an oval medallion centering the frieze.



Each piece is branded EHB for the English furniture dealer, Edward Holmes Baldock.  One also has a paper label bearing the number 95, with the same number painted in red beneath the marble.

Probably the pair described in July 1772 in the sale of the stock of the widow Dubois to her son René Dubois (see below)

Most probably the pair sold, Phillips Son & Neale, London, June 24, 1816, lot 566 (£110. 5 shillings) when still fitted with medallions depicting Henry IV and the duc du Sully, the encoignures also had red mottled marble tops.  Acquired at this sale by George IV

Most probably King George IV (1762 -1830) until at least 1828, recorded in the stores of Carlton House in 1826, and probably sold circa 1836

Edward Holmes Baldock, dealer (1777-1845)

By repute, Leopold de Rothschild, 5 Hamilton Place (now Curzon Street), London

Anonymous sale (Property of a Lady), Christie's, London, March 23, 1972, lot 118 (at the time of this sale the encoignures were said to have come from Hamilton Place)

Collection of Habib Sabet, Paris

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, October 13, 1983, lot 449

With Aveline, Paris

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Antenor Patiño, sold, Sotheby's, New York, November 1, 1986, lot 99

A. Pradère, Les ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la révolution, Paris, 1989, illustrated, p. 296, fig. 327.

Sir Hugh Roberts, For The King's Pleasure ,The furnishing and decoration of George IV's apartments at Windsor Castle , London, 2001, pp. 180 - 181; figs. 211-212; p.437, note 525.

Sale Catalogue, Sotheby & Co., London, Catalogue of Designs for the Private Apartments at Windsor Castle by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, The Property of D. Lowsley-Williams, Esq., April 9, 1970, lot 180, illustrated.

THE DUBOIS SUCCESSION

In July 1772, Marie Madeleine Brachet, widow of the ébéniste Jacques Dubois, sold for 25,000 livres all of the stock, tools and work in progress in their atelier on the rue de Charenton that she had inherited 8 years earlier on her husband's death, to her son, René. The inventory of the stock included:

deux encoignures en colonne en ébenne non dorées estimés ensemble 800

as well as

2 gaines à l'antique en ébenne non dorées 480

2 bibliothèques très riches garnies en ébenne non dorées estimés ensemble 1800

2 tables en consoles richement garnies en ébenne non dorées estimées ensemble 1200

1 commode et deux coins en ébenne richement garnie et non dorées estimés ensembles 1200

Therefore eleven pieces in ebony were in the workshop awaiting completion and gilding.  One wonders whether they were all intended for the same client. In all likelihood they were intended to decorate a gallery.

In the absence of any further description, the columns could correspond to any of the columns discussed below.  The consoles could be either those sold from the Schlumberger sale, Sotheby's, Monaco, February 26, 1992, lot 50 and formerly in the Stroganov Collection, St. Petersburg, or the pair from the Rueff-Sephin collection with Maurice Segoura in 1986.

The 1772 contract of sale between the widow Dubois and her son René mentions the various subcontractors used by the workshop in the period 1771-1772, the period of manufacture of these corner cupboards.  These include the fondeur Nicolas Franche, the ciseleur Rabut, and gilder the widow Noël.

THE ENCOIGNURES AND WINDSOR CASTLE

The Royal pair of encoignures were intended to form part of the interior designed for the office of Sir William Knighton, secretary to King George IV, at Windsor Castle.  Both appear in the designs executed by Sir Jeffry Wyatville in the Royal Collection showing the North and West elevations of the Secretary’s Room.  The designs in watercolor over black chalk are inscribed with the monogram of George IV and bear his signed approval.  The only other furniture appearing in the Wyatville design was a suite of tapestry-covered giltwood seat furniture which resembles the suite which was ultimately used.  The corner cupboards were sent to Morel and Seddon for ‘refurbishing’ on January 10, 1828, but were not in the end used for Windsor.  As noted by Roberts, (op. cit. p. 437), the corner cupboards left the Royal Collection and “may be identified with a pair of cabinets stamped I Dubois and EHB, sold at Christie’s, London, 23 March, 1972, lot 118”. 

The drawings of the corner cupboards clearly depict them each with an oval portrait medallion centering the swags on the door, which clearly relates these cupboards to the group of pedestals discussed below. 

George IV was an important client of Baldock who contributed to the refurnishing at Windsor, selling to George IV a cabinet and chest of drawers on May 22, 1827.  On May 5, 1829 four Sèvres trays, on May 17, 1828 a Boulle cabinet on a stand, and on December 1, 1828, four sofas and two chairs.  It was precisely at this time (1828) that the corner cupboards were under consideration for Sir William Knighton's office, and had been sent to Morel & Seddon for "refurbishing".   We cannot be sure when these cabinets left the Royal Collection, although it must have been prior to Baldock's retirement in 1843.  At that time the encoignures had red marble tops and medallions depicting Henri IV and Sully.  It is also possible that Baldock was responsible for changing the marble tops and for removing the portrait medallions at which time he would have applied his brand, EHB (further discussed below)

THE MATCHING PEDESTALS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

A set of four matching pedestals was acquired by George IV from the Flechelle sale (June 30-July 8) at Phillips Son & Neale on July 5, 1817, sold individually as lots 564 (£94.10s), 565 (£97.13s.), 419 (£82.19s.) 420 (£86.25s).

Originally sent to decorate the Brighton Pavilion, this set of four pedestals is still in the Royal Collection, now located in the East Gallery at Buckingham Palace (illustrated, Harris, de Bellaigue & Millar, Buckingham Palace, New York, 1968, pp. 74-75).  The pedestals have identical ribbon-tied swags to the encoignures in this lot, with pendant ribbons enclosing oval portrait medallions.  The flutes are fitted with identical ormolu chandelles and the bases are identically mounted.  Indeed, this separates this set of four pedestals and pair of encoignures from the related pedestals discussed below and raises the possibility that they may originally have been conceived as a set, perhaps to decorate a gallery in the 1770's, dispersed and then reunited, albeit temporarily, in the early 19th century.

The presence of the Dubois stamp on the present corner cabinets, provides the basis for the attribution to René Dubois of an impressive group of pedestals made circa 1770-5

RELATED PEDESTALS

Other related pedestals with slight variations are recorded; they are all executed in oak with ebony veneers, brass-lined flutes and are fitted on the upper part with ormolu ribbon-tied laurel swags.  They are also fitted with oval  portrait medallions variously depicting Henri V; the duc de Sully, et al.  Some are mounted at the base with bound oak wreaths identical to the present lot and the Buckingham Palace examples; some have borders of laurel wreaths.  They all have flutes inset with laurel husks.

One pair of pedestals, and an almost identical single column, is in the Wallace Collection (Peter Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, Vol. II, Nos. 155 (F421-2) and 156 (F423), illustrated and discussed pp. 729-736).  They are decorated with medallions depicting Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé on one, and Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne on the other.  The single pedestal which is fractionally smaller is fitted at the front and at the back with an oval medallion depicting Henri IV on one side and the duc de Sully on the other.  The base is fitted with an ormolu ribbon-tied oak leaf border identical to the border on the present lot which Hughes writes is “noticeably superior to the corresponding mounts on F421-2” (Hughes, op. cit. p. 736).  The Wallace pedestals were brought from Paris by Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke (d.1862) for his London house at Carlton Terrace (sold, Christie's, May 12-13, 1851, lots 248 and 249). 

Four other pedestals purchased by the 5^th Duke of Rutland are in the Regent’s Gallery at Belvoir Castle (see, G. Hussey, English Country House, London, 1958, p. 129).  These are thought to have been acquired in the early 19th century by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland (d.1857).

Another pair which belonged to Robert Grosvenor, Marquess of Westminster (d. 1845) can be seen in a photograph of  the Gallery at Grosvenor House in 1889 (reproduced, David Pearce, London Mansions, London 1986, p. 173, fig. 123).  

Another was in the sale of the dealer Monvoisin, January 20-21, 1845, lot 96 with an oak wreath border. 

It is of interest to note that so many of these pedestals had, in the 19th century, been acquired by leading members of the British aristocracy, as well as George IV.  At least two pairs had been owned by the famous British collector William Beckford, and were included in the sale of his collection which took place October 22, 1823, lots 1549 and 1550.  It is possible that one of these lots was a pair subsequently in the collection of Barbara Cates, sold, Christie's, Paris, March 18, 2003, lot 383.

It has been speculated that these pedestals might have been commissioned for one of the great galleries in an important and possibly royal residence.  The country seat of the Prince de Condé at Chantilly had a gallery dedicated to military triumphs; the Palais Royal, home of the duc d'Orléans, had a gallery dedicated to illustrious gentlemen, as did the Hôtel de Penthièvre.

EDWARD HOLMES BALDOCK (1777-1845)

Edward Holmes Baldock rose from extremely humble beginnings to become the leading dealer in porcelain and French furniture in London from the beginning of the 1800s until 1843 when he retired. Between 1808 and 1843 he was variously described in the London Directories as “Ornamental China Dealer”, “Furniture Broker and Appraiser”, “Foreign China Furniture Warehouse(man)” and “Antique Furniture and Ornamental China Dealer”.  He held the appointment in the Lord Steward’s Department of “Purveyor of China, Earthenware and Glass” to King William IV from 1832 to 1837 and of “Purveyor of China” to Queen Victoria from 1838 until his death (see, Geoffrey de Bellaigue, ‘Edward Holmes Baldock’, Part I, The Connoisseur, August 1975, pp. 290 – 299). 

By 1820 Baldock had established an illustrious clientèle amongst them George IV, the Dukes of Northumberland and Buccleuch, Lord Lowther and other members of the aristocracy.  He was the most important dealer of 18^th century French furniture and decorative objects in London during the first decades of the 19^th century when this type of property was at the height of fashion, possibly because of the example of the ultra-fashionable and tremendously Francophile George IV.  The aristocrats already mentioned, as well as connoisseurs such as the legendary William Beckford, vied with each other in their acquisition of the vast quantities of 18^th century French furniture which had come pouring on the market following the French Revolution, and following the Revolutionary sales at the end of the 18^th century. 

Bills of Entry preserved in the Customs House indicate that Baldock was heavily engaged in trade with the Continent.  Also his own bills to his customers indicate transportation and import duties on goods acquired on the Continent, principally in Paris.  In his pursuit of properties, Baldock must have employed the services of agents abroad; he may well also have traveled there himself.  Baldock was acting, therefore, in much the same way as the great Parisian marchands merciers had operated in Paris up until the Revolution.  He was also extremely active in the London salerooms in many instances acting as agent for one of his important clients, not the least of whom was George IV for whom he bought items at Lord Gwydyr’s sale held on May 20-21, 1829 (de Bellaigue, op. cit.).

Probably the most important furniture handled by Baldock was the magnificent pair of ebony cabinets mounted with pietra dura panels which had been made by Cucci for Louis XIV in 1683; they were purchased by the 3^rd Duke of Northumberland in 1824 for 2,000.

Baldock was an important dealer in antique porcelains for which he produced his own gilt bronze mounts.  He also was engaged in the practice of restoring, altering and making furniture.  First suggested by Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue (de Bellaigue, ‘Edward Holmes Baldock’, Part II, The Connoisseur, September 1975, pp. 18 – 25), the brand EHB, is now accepted as being used by Baldock which is found on some, but not all, of the pieces which are known to have passed through his hands.  de Bellaigue notes that it is principally found on pieces of French furniture of the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles (op. cit. p. 22), and as noted by Pierre Verlet before him, these pieces invariably come from English collections (P. Verlet, Les Meubles Francais du XVIII Siecle, II, Ebenisterie, Paris, 1956, p. 78.).  Why he stamped some pieces and not others is not yet known; the stamp appears both on unquestionably authentic 18^th century pieces of furniture, as well as on pieces of 19^th century date. 

Upon his retirement, Baldock left his commercial life behind him.  He moved from Hanway Street where he had lived for 38 years among tradesmen and craftsmen, to Hyde Park Place where his neighbors included the Marquis of Headfort and the Duke of Norfolk; he sold his stock in trade and his workshop tools at auction, and had his name removed from the commercial section of the London Directories and inserted for the first time in its Court pages.  He did not live long, however, to enjoy his retirement and his new life as a ‘gentleman’ dying after two years at the age of 68.  His son also prospered, marrying into the aristocracy and eventually taking a seat as a Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury.