Pour la reine - details of furniture made by Riesener for Marie Antoinette, now in the Wallace Collection

 

The oval bronze plaque is a later replacement - possibly even done by Riesener, himself - for the original marquetry medallion.

Like much of Riesener's work for Marie Antoinette, he has included her initials in the bronze doré frieze.

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Secrétaire à abattant (fall-front desk.) Altered by the addition of the gilt-bronze medallion - the original would have been in marquetry - and the rectangular plaque in the frieze, circa 1794–1825. Materials: Oak, purplewood, satiné, tulipwood, stained woods, burr wood, ebony or ebonised wood, box, gilt bronze, Carrara marble. Delivered in 1783 to the Petit Trianon, possibly for use in the queen's boudoir.

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Commode (chest of drawers.) Marquetry and central medallion removed and re-veneered, circa 1795–1815. Materials: Oak, mahogany, purplewood, ebony or ebonised wood, box, gilt bronze, brocatello marble (replacement). Delivered in 1782 to the château de Marly for the queen's newly redecorated bedroom. This and another were near copies of a commode that had been delivered to Marly the previous year. Of the other two, both retaining their original marquetry, one is in the Louvre and the other is at Versailles.

With its original marquetry intact, this nearly identical commode - one of the three - is in the collection of Versailles.

The commode is a feature of the restored décor of Marie Antoinette's cabinet intérieur or cabinet doré.

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Secrétaire à abattant. Marquetry removed and re-veneered and the central medallion added, circa 1794–1825. Materials: Oak, burr wood (probably yew), purplewood, stained woods, ebony or ebonized wood, box, gilt bronze, Carrara marble. Ordered for the queen's private rooms at the château de Marly, the desk and corner cabinet (along with a matching chest of drawers) were instead sent to Versailles in February 1783 and installed in her cabinet intérieur. They remained there less than a year before being sent to Marly as originally intended. But the queen rarely visited Marly and only three weeks later they were returned to Versailles where they were to be used in her new ground floor apartment.

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Encoignure (corner cabinet), en suite with the above desk. Marquetry removed and re-veneered circa 1794–1825. Materials: Oak, burr wood (probably yew), purplewood, stained woods, ebony or ebonized wood, box, gilt bronze, Carrara marble.

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Secrétaire à abattant. Materials: Oak, purplewood, satiné, tulipwood, stained woods, burr wood, ebony or ebonised wood, box, gilt bronze, Carrara marble. Delivered to Versailles on 8 July 1780, for use in the queen's cabinet intérieur. Not really to her taste, it was replaced after less than six months. It was put into storage, but a few years later it was installed in the king’s apartments at the château de Saint-Cloud.

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Commode. While it retains its original marquetry, the piece has been much disfigured by an addition at the bottom - to made it taller? - and an inferior replacement of the mount at center bottom. Materials: Oak, purplewood, satiné, stained woods, burr wood, ebony or ebonized wood, box, gilt bronze, vert des Alpes marble (replacement). This chest of drawers - in the newest style -  was delivered to Versailles in December 1780, where it graced the queen's newly refurbished cabinet intérieur. Only three years later, Riesener supplied a new suite of furniture for the room; later that same year he replaced that furniture with lacquer-mounted pieces.

Much of the marquetry decoration of eighteenth-century furniture was originally fairly colorful, a color that has faded markedly over time. A great variety of woods were used - their color both natural and dyed - and the combinations were chosen with consideration for the overall scheme of the settings for which the finished furniture was intended. This particular piece was specifically designed for its place in the queen's cabinet intérieur and it echoed the coloration of the newly-made embroidered silk wall hangings designed by Jacques Gondoin; the pastoral trophy at the center of the commode was created to match a similar passage in the wall fabric. Below is the Wallace Collection's imagined recreation/restoration of Riesener's commode in its original state, something which they based on traces of color that remain on the piece. While I believe that the color here may be just a bit more intense than it ever actually was, it's still a fascinating thing to ponder. Also something to ponder is whether the passage of time and the loss of all that color, like the loss of the polychrome of antique statuary and architecture, has been an improvement...?

三人の姉妹 (Sannin no Shimai) "Three Sisters", a four panel painted screen by Yamakawa Shūhō, 1936

The three sisters portrayed on the screen - in ink and colors on silk, five and a half by eleven feet - wear modern kimonos. Two of the young women sit inside what looks to be a new - and likely quite expensive - automobile, while the third - probably the eldest sister, Hisako - stands outside; in one hand she holds a leather-cased camera, while the other hand rests atop - and almost seems to caress - the hood of the car. 

It took some doing to identify the sitters in this triple portrait, but it turns out they were the three eldest daughters of the wealthy right-wing industrialist and cabinet minister Fusanosuke Kuhara 久原 房之助, founder of Hitachi among other companies. A politician from 1928, he was deeply involved in an attempted coup d'état in 1936 - the very year this portrait was created - and was briefly imprisoned. And he would later be labelled a Class A war criminal by the post-war tribunal and included in the "Purge", the prohibition of certain Japanese individuals from participation in public service. (His daughters had married into other prominent families and had faired better. And after the occupation ended in 1952, Kuhara returned to political life.) The triple portrait, however, shows nothing of the turbulent years of Japan in the mid-1930s, a turbulence with which the family was so deeply involved. Instead, the three elegant sisters radiate nothing but grace, financial security, and utter calm.

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Yamakawa Shūhō (山川 秀峰, 1898–1944), Japanese painter active in the Taishō and Shōwa eras, as well as a printmaker of the Shin-hanga movement. He was born in Kyoto with the name Yamakawa Yoshio. His first teacher, Ikegami Shūhō, gave him the name Yamakawa Shūhō. Yamakawa then went on to study with Kiyokata Kaburagi. In the late 1920s, he started designing woodblocks prints of beautiful women, many of which were published by Shōzaburō Watanabe, and he also worked as an illustrator in the 1930s. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1944.

Every precious thread - a selection of carpet paintings by Francesco Noletti

 

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Francesco Noletti (1611, Valletta? - 4 December 1654, Rome), Italian still-life painter, often referred to by his nickname, Il Maltese. His works were much sought after during his lifetime, but he was soon forgotten after his death, and the artist´s true identity was subsequently lost. Long confused with an artist named Benedetto Fioravanti, who painted similar still-lifes, his works were also often attributed to an otherwise unknown painter named Francesco Fieravino. Until recently he was frequently referred to as Francesco Maltese because of his place of origin. It was only in the twentieth century that his identity had been firmly established. It's now known that, as of 1642, he had settled permanently in Rome, first on the Via Margutta, and then on the Via Laurina, where he collaborated with Andrea Sacchi, while he also received international commissions. His works were quite sought after and a still life with a carpet was in the celebrated collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. He married in Rome, and when he died, the death certificate describes him as a "famous painter."