A rare and important Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese black and gilt lacquer bureau plat, attributed to Jacques Dubois circa 1750

the shaped rectangular top inset with tooled and parcel-gilt leather writing surface framed by a molded ormolu border, the serpentine-shaped frieze en arbalette outlined with ormolu bands, the recessed central drawer flanked by two smaller drawers, all decorated with Chinese lacquer panels depicting gilt still lives, animals and figures, the back fitted to match the front, the frieze raised on cabriole legs outlined with ormolu banding and fitted with pierced ormolu chutes cast with acanthus centering a cabochon at the knees, terminating in foliate ormolu sabots.       

By tradition, Cardinal du Rohan
Collection Madame la Générale Bard
Sotheby's New York, The Collection of Antenor Patiño, November 1, 1986, lot 114 

Ormolu less orange and generally richer in real life than in catalogue illustration. Leather top with scuffs, cracks, abrasions, minor infill, surface dirt and rubbing to gilding. Ormolu of high quality, now with traces of oxidations, minor rubbing and surface dirt. Ebonized areas refreshed overall. Lacquer with minor scattered restorations, fine cracks vand with later clear varnish in most areas. Bottom with scattered age cracks, with the widest being approximately 1cm. in width. In good overall condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

JACQUES DUBOIS (1694-1763)

Jacques Dubois was the half-brother of Noël Gérard, who was one of the most important ébénistes and dealers in Paris between 1720-1730 and it is possible, although not proven, that Dubois trained and worked in Gérard's workshop. If he did not work in Gérard's atelier, more than likely he worked as an ouvirer libre, either eventually would explain why he did not receive his mâitrise until late in his career, in 1742, when he was 48. He died rather suddenly at the height of his career.

Contemporary records reveal very little about Dubois' clientele, they do however reveal a large, prolific workshop where a wide variety of pieces were made. The lack of further documentation suggests that Dubois had a solid base of personal clients so that he did not have to rely upon the dealers. However, he certainly did have transactions with various marchands merciers for whom he may well have produced his most luxurious and costly pieces. He would have had to acquire the precious Japanese lacquer veneers, which he employed, from the marchands merciers who seem to have controlled their distribution.

Along with Bernard van Risamburgh, Joseph Baumhauer and Jean Desforges, Dubois was one of the finest ébénistes working Chinese, Japanese and European lacquer veneers in the Louis XV idiom and is renowned for a number of commodes and small writing tables.

DUBOIS AND THE BUREAU PLAT

As noted above, Dubois produced a large number of commodes and small, slant front writing tables and other small tables. Current records would suggest that although he did make bureaux plats of great quality, he produced rather fewer of them than other pieces, and the majority of them appear to have been executed in wood marquetry. The design of all of them is rather uniform and very liquid; the drawers are separated by marked curves with the central drawer slightly recessed; see, for example one in bois de bout marquetry, and two quarter veneered in tulipwood, one of the latter in the Louvre, illustrated Alexandre Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, 1989, pp. 174-75, pls. 155-58.

If indeed Dubois did make only a few bureaux plats, it is ironic that one his finest pieces, arguably, one of the most iconic lacquer desks produced in the mid-eighteenth century, was made by Dubois and is now in the Louvre. It is identical in many respects to the present piece. Veneered with panels of Japanese lacquer, it is of almost identical outline. The ormolu mounts surrounding and separating the drawers, and the mounts on the narrow sides, are identical to those on the present bureau plat. The bureau plat in the Louvre, along with a cartonnier and a clock, was bought for the personal use of Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans at the Palais Royal and afterwards was sent to the Château du Raincy, from where it was confiscated during the Revolution (illustrated Daniel Alcouffe et. al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Vol I., 1993, pp. 158-59, no. 48.