A French gilt-bronze mirror in the manner of André-Charles Boulle, second half 18th century

Christie's Paris, 7 November 2012, lot 106;

Galerie Kugel, Paris, 2013.

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Christie's Paris, 7 novembre 2012, lot 106;

Galerie J. Kugel, Paris 2013.

This spectacular mirror incorporates design elements typical of the work of Louis XIV's court cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle (1648-1732) from his workshop or his followers. 

As Jean-Nerée Ronfort notes in his study of Boulle’s production of gilt bronzes ('André-Charles Boulle: die Bronzearbeiten und seine Werkstatten im Louvre', Vergoldete Bronzen, Ottomeyer and Pröschel, eds., Munich 1986, vol.II), Boulle’s output of gilt bronze objects beyond simple furniture mounts was far more extensive than has generally been realised. A 1710 description of his workshops in the Louvre noted that out of 26 workbenches, no fewer than six were reserved for the use of bronziers. The ornamental repertory of masks, dragons, cherubs, harpies and trophies all appear in Boulle's designs published by Mariette in c.1720 as the Nouveaux Deisseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie. Boulle was also heavily inspired by contemporary architects and ornamental engravers, notably Jean Bérain (1640-1711), the dessinateur de la Chambre et du cabinet du Roi who, like Boulle, enjoyed the King's protection and had lodgings in the Grande Galerie du Louvre, and Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672-1742), whose father was also an ébéniste du roi with his workshop in the Louvre and is known to have supplied designs to Boulle.

Although Boulle has left a significant oeuvre of wall lights, clock cases, fire dogs and chandeliers, he is not recorded as ever having produced wall mirrors in gilt bronze, which are exceptionally rare in 18th century France. There does appear to have been a brief vogue for such objects in the 1720s, when the Duc d'Orléans commissioned seven gilt bronze mirrors for his residences the Palais Royal and Château de Saint Cloud. One appears in an inventory of Saint Cloud under item no. 2951, described as 'un miroir à bordure de glace et ornements de bronze doré d'or moulu avec son chapiteau aussi de glace et ses ornements de bronze doré d'or moulu. La glace dudit miroir de soixante six poulces de haut par quarante trois poulces de large. 800 livres'. This is significantly larger than the present mirror and of a type clearly corresponding to the classic miroir à parcloses with a border and cresting of additional glass panels, a form that proliferated during the Régence and early years of Louis XV's reign.

Two large gilt bronze mirrors of the miroir à parcloses form have survived, formerly in the collection of the late Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's Monaco 4 December 1993, lot 43 (attributed to Charles Cressent) and the other Christie's Paris, 14 June 2022, lot 21. The latter example employs female masks at the four corners identical to the mask on the cresting of the offered lot, a model that appears as a mount on bureaux plats and coffers-on-stand by Boulle and his followers, and also appears in a c.1711 engraved design for a commode by Jean Bérain. The cabinetmaker Charles Cressent, who like Boulle designed and manufactured his own gilt bronze mounts, also appears to have produced mirrors in this medium. As he did not enjoy Royal protection, Cressent fell foul of guild restrictions and was subject to legal proceedings including the confiscation of bronzes from his workshop in 1722-23, which according to a bailiff's report included 'onze masques représentant tant testes d'hommes que de femmes lesquels sont tous coifez de différentes façons [...] faites pour des miroirs' (Alexandre Pradère, Charles Cressent. Sculpteur, ébéniste du Régent, Dijon 2003, p. 200).

A very impressive upper part of a Régence gilt-bronze mirror (fronton) is with the Steinitz Gallery in Paris as of 2022. This model incorporates female masks and putti with garlands which are also part of the ornament of the present mirror. This can also be linked with a pair of late Louis XIV wall-lights discussed by A. Pradère in Steinitz Catalogue, 2016, n°9, p. 104-119.

In the absence of comparable works, it is difficult to date this mirror with precision. However, the matt gilding obtained through a chemical process rather than manually with tools, a technique known as mise au mat (see Pierre Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1987, p. 174) and the specific type of threads used to attach the decorative elements to the frame, both point to a date from the later Louis XV or Louis XVI periods. This time frame also corresponds to the first of numerous 'Boulle Revivals', when pieces obtained directly from Boulle or his workshop re-appeared on the market in the sales of important collectors, among them Julienne (1766), the Baron de Thiers (1770), Blondel de Gagny (1776) and Randon de Boisset (1777). This led to a renewed interest in Boulle furniture and Louis XIV taste in general, and prominent ébénistes including Joseph, Montigny and Levasseur began manufacturing case furniture veneered in the Boulle technique, sometimes re-using older elements taken from actual works by Boulle.

Although of much larger scale, the composition of this mirror is more akin in spirit to small standing dressing-table or toilet mirrors traditionally made as part of toilet services in gold, silver or silver-gilt, rather than giltwood mirrors for the wall produced by woodcarvers. As such, it is possible this mirror was created by a goldsmith and one name that has been suggested is a member of the Gambier family, a dynasty of goldsmiths active from 1640-1832. An 1829 document publishing the will of Antoine Noël Gambier (1757-1832) reveals the bequest of a 'miroir qui est placé entre les deux fenêtres de ma chambre à coucher et dont le cadre en bronze ciselé et doré est l'ouvrage de mon ayeul paternel : ce meuble qui était il y a siècle à l'usage personnel de ma grand-mère'. This description confirms the existence of gilt bronze mirrors manufactured by goldsmiths in the first half of the eighteenth century.