Antique enthusiasts may want to visit the Museum of Decorative Arts in Lyon or the Muséon Arlaten in Arles, the heart of Provence, the next time they travel to France. Both are filled with examples of the finest case furniture made in France’s provinces during the eighteenth century. Eighteenth century cabinet-makers working in the provinces took heed of the capital’s design zeitgeist and used the same traditional cabinet-making methods as their Parisian counterparts. However, regional craftsmen often used native woods, emphasized complex carving, and interpreted the established decorative lexicon in ways that reflected local culture and traditions. These interpretations, with distinctive regional flavors, are what lend originality to provincial production.
An overview of three types of furniture, the wardrobe or armoire, the chest-of-drawers or commode, and the low cabinet or buffet highlights the key features of each provincial style. For example, the double-vaulted cornice found on Lyon armoires softens the rather ponderous yet highly organized architectural design, its curves introducing lively ornamentation that counterbalances the massive proportion (Image 1). On rare occasions, the cornice on Lyon armoires will be triple-vaulted, which is unique to this city and very coveted.
“Image 1: Louis XV Walnut Wardrobe, Lyon circa 1745.”
Photo courtesy Christie’s Images, Ltd
www.christiesimages.com[2007]
The most notable provincial furniture production arose in cities like Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille, which prospered as centers of commercial exchange, or as hubs for high value specialty products. Marseilles, and the Provence region around it, benefited from the cultivation of mulberry, the tree necessary for making silks shipped north to Lyon, the capital of the European luxury textile industry. On the Atlantic coast, Bordeaux maritime merchants grew fat from the lucrative West Indies trade. The wealth generated by this provincial economic boom created a bourgeois class ready to indulge in the finest accoutrements. Shipbuilders and silk manufacturers alike did purchase pieces made in fashionable Paris workshops, yet provincial pride and the availability of skilled regional craftsmen encouraged them to commission hand-crafted furniture by local artisans as well.
While strict guild regulations required some Parisian furniture to be stamped with the name of the master cabinetmaker or workshop, this is rarely the case for provincial furniture. Craftsmen operating in provinces were free of the capital’s directives and there are few cases of provincial cabinetmakers stamping their work. The absence of such marks on provincial furniture should not, however, suggest inferior quality in the provinces. Specialization was the norm, as was the case in Paris, and it assured top quality. For example, in Bordeaux workshops a highly trained artisan constructed the carcass, an experienced journeyman performed the decorative carving, and a skilled bronze worker supplied the mounts.
Eighteenth-century French provincial furniture was primarily crafted in the mid-century rocaille or Louis XV style, with a strong emphasis on curves, asymmetry, and scrolled, foliated motifs. Rococo was so popular outside of the capital that production of Louis XV style pieces in rural France extended well into the 19th century, long after Paris had moved on to the more austere Louis XVI and post-revolutionary styles.
In addition, provincial makers used popular indigenous woods, with a prevailing interest in oak in the North and walnut in the region extending from the Loire Valley to the Mediterranean. Early in the 18th century, shipments of prized mahogany from Saint-Domingue, with its arresting dark-chocolate, reddish tonalities, appeared on French shores. By 1760 when mahogany became fashionable in Paris for veneering, cabinet-makers from Saint-Malo, Bordeaux and Nantes had already been making their finest chests-of-drawers and wardrobes in solid mahogany for several decades. Other popular timbers were olivewood for delicate inlays in Provence, or fruitwood such as wild cherry and pear tree. Even though cabinet-makers primarily made furniture in a single solid wood, more rustic pieces could include several wood types; here the best wood such as walnut would be used for the front of furniture whereas the sides and the back would feature cheaper timbers, such as chestnut or pine.
Provincial case furniture varied significantly by region, as demonstrated by pieces from the vicinity of Bordeaux on the Western seaboard, Lyon in Central Eastern France, and the Mediterranean region of Provence. Bordeaux pieces exhibit an understated elegance, with forms of harmonious proportions and little carving, while in the Provence region the carving is conspicuous. Finally, Lyon cabinet-makers feature rigorous architectural order while applying exuberant decoration as well.
No less sculptural than the Lyon wardrobe mentioned earlier, with its dynamic high and low relief carving on the pediment and door panels strongly delineated by thick moldings, is the outstanding carving on Provençal wardrobes, which are also rare. Of note are their pediments with high-relief carvings of flower baskets, or a pair of doves symbolizing marriage, both crowned by an oak wreath. Similarly to the Lyon armoire, each door features a tri-partite organization of shaped and molded panels, one on top of the other. Yet, while the panel edges feature fine, detailed carving in Lyon, they are always left bare in Provence. Finally, Provençal armoires are distinguished by the abundance of wrought iron hinges and wide plates featuring keyholes with designs of lace-like quality.
The apron of Nîmes armoires from the last quarter of the 18th century often includes a carved tureen derived from the Greco-Roman urn, a motif found during the reign of Louis XVI. Therefore, while keeping the popular Louis XV design for the carcass, local artisans adopted new neo-classical decorative elements, but interpreted them to reflect the local culture, in this case by using a motif which gives a feeling of domestic warmth and familial gatherings around the table.
The traditional Bordeaux wardrobe is massive, sometimes reaching three meters, and projects a sense of sophisticated opulence through its solid mahogany and the rather restrained carving. In addition, behind the doors is an organized interior used to conspicuously display precious silver and china on shelves, while the lower section includes two short and one long drawer for storage. Since this armoire was a showpiece, the hardware on the reverse of the doors is of the utmost refinement: the polished wrought iron is artistically cut and incised with an elaborate locking system.
“Image 2: Louis XV Walnut Chest of Drawers, Nîmes circa 1730.
Photo courtesy Sotheby's New York (www.sothebys.com)
A second important type of regional case furniture, the chest-of-drawers, could be flat-fronted, have a curved or bowed outline, or more frequently take the en tombeau form, modeled after the shape of an antique sarcophagus. The region around Bordeaux made the most outstanding examples in the latter form, often in mahogany. Bordeaux commodes present a bulbous form on both front and sides, with strong S-shaped and rounded upright corners and refined bronze mounts.
The Provençal chest-of-drawers is one of the most prized on the market. A distinctive trait to the Arlesian or Nîmes commode is the pierced carving found on its apron: the large shell is asymmetric and framed by acanthus leaves, all richly sculpted. The most desired examples have a slight convex and concave undulation, combined with bulging curves on the front and the sides, and graceful carving on the front down to gently curved or cabriole legs (image 2).
The owner of a regional commode in fruitwood such as walnut will expect a pegged top consisting of one or more wood planks. While marble tops are not a common feature on provincial commodes, chests that do have authentic marble tops have slabs that sit on their own original wooden flooring. Thus, traces of earlier pegging on the uprights underneath a suspect marble top indicates that an original wooden top has been removed. In addition to such inauthentic marble tops, provincial chests-of-drawers often have partially or entirely replaced wood tops, which is detrimental to their value.
Image 3: Louis XV Walnut Low Cabinet, Nîmes circa 1750.”
Photo courtesy Sotheby's New York (www.sothebys.com)
A third noteworthy regional type is the low cabinet or buffet. In Provence, Nîmes offers one of the most sought-after examples: here the bow-fronted walnut carcass takes a slight trapezoidal form with curving side door panels echoed by the sensuous contour in the spectacular veined grey marble top. Each door is intricately cut to achieve molding from a single panel, and the apron, recalling that on the Nîmes commode, is beautifully pierced. The finishing touches are polished key-hole plates with intricate cut-out edges, and door hinges of the highest quality (image 3).
Finally, another desirable example is the walnut buffet from Lyon. It derives from the type found in the region around Paris, in which an oak body solidly rests on a plinth and is topped by a marble on which birds, deer and other game were laid at the end of the hunt. On the Lyon example, the imposing rectilinear structure is in contrast with the richly carved ornamentation, framed by deep moldings on the door panels. Much preferred are buffets with a warm patina and further carving such as a female head and foliated motifs on the uprights, or between the doors. In a feature unique to Lyon, the drawers are located under the thick grey slab of fossilized shells, behind the two front doors.
Motivated collectors of fine French provincial furniture should visit the yearly prestigious antiques fairs held outside the French capital, in cities such as Dijon, Toulouse, and Antibes. These events usually last for more than a week and attract the most reputable national dealers. There, one is sure to find the largest concentration of eighteenth century provincial furniture of outstanding quality.
