A Régence Gilt Bronze Mounted and Brass Inlaid Tulipwood, Kingwood, and Parquetry Commode, by Étienne Doirat, Circa 1720

Étienne Doirat (1675-1732)

Doirat was one of the few Parisian cabinet-makers active during the first half of the 18th century who adhered to the guild rules requiring ébénistes to stamp their production. Nevertheless, he did not stamp all of his production, indeed the seminal work on this maker by Jean-Dominique Augarde cites only 38 pieces which have come to light and which bear his stamp (J.-D. Augarde,' Etienne Doirat, Menuisier en Ebène', The J. Paul Getty Museum, Journal, Vol 13/1985). 

That Doirat was a successful and prodigious cabinet-maker is revealed by the location of his business on the fashionable rue St. Honoré, and by the fact that the inventory taken after his death in 1732 listed a large stock of some 200 pieces in various stages of production.