An Empire gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and plummed mahogany veneered table, circa 1810, attributed to Martin-Guillaume Biennais

According to a written label underneath the case and by family tradition

Collection of Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890);

Collection of the Baron Napoléon Gourgaud (1857-1918) or his son fils Gaspard-Napoléon Gourgaud (1881-1944) ;

Collection of the Baron Coudein and then by descent;

A.Blanchy et E Lacombe, Bordeaux, 30 June 2021, lot 467.

Related literature

cat. Exb. Meubles à secrets, Secrets de meubles, musée de Malmaison et Bois Préau, 2018-2019

cat. Exb. Martin Guillaume Biennais. L’orfèvre de Napoléon 1er (1764-1843) », propriété Caillebotte, Yerres, 29 May- 3 October 2021.

The quality of execution of our table, the use of fine mahogany, and the use of gilt bronze mounts from the repertoire of the ornamentalists Percier and Fontaine allow us to attribute it to the work of Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Another table, sold in French Furniture, European Works of Art and Porcelain from the collection of Alice Tully, Christie’s New York, October 28, 1994, lot 329, with identical decoration and shape, also attributed to Biennais, confirms this hypothesis and the existence of this particular type of furniture during the Empire period.

The simple, classic form and the bronze mounts inspired by the designs of Percier and Fontaine, the Emperor's ornamentalists, are characteristic of art under the Empire, a simplicity also found on a jewelry box bearing Josephine Bonaparte's monogram, exhibited at the National Museum of the Châteaux of Malmaison and Bois-Préau, and on a traveling secretary from the Emile Hermès collection (exhibition catalog, Meubles à secrets, Secrets de meubles, Malmaison and Bois-Préau Museum, 2018–2019, pp. 82 and 93, nos. 20 and 28).

Our table is nonetheless original in its bronze mounts, particularly the one in the form of Cupid seated on a dolphin, which is found on very few pieces. These bronze mounts are also present on the other identical table mentioned earlier. This is probably the same piece of furniture sold at René Fribourg New York, Replica Shoes ’s London, October 17, 1963, lot 702.

Martin-Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843)

The story of Guillaume-Martin Biennais is one of the most remarkable of the Napoleonic period. A modest craftsman from Normandy who came to Paris to seek his fortune, he became one of the Emperor and his family's preferred suppliers, despite the turmoil of the Revolution.

Although Biennais is now widely associated with goldsmithing, he began his career in Paris in 1788 as a cabinetmaker. In the early signs for his shop, ‘Au Singe violet’, he presented himself as a ‘merchant of writing tablets and fans’, but he soon diversified his business by also offering mahogany boxes containing toiletries. It was on this occasion that he met General Bonaparte, selling him a toiletries set on credit before his departure for the Italian campaign. Although very simple in appearance, his toiletries sets and later his boxes nevertheless had secrets and discreet locks, as is the case with our table, revealing the artist's dexterity.

Provenances

A handwritten label to the underside cites the provenance of this table, which begins with Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890). The illegitimate son of the Marquess of Hertford, a great English collector, Richard Wallace bequeathed his collection, located in Parisian properties, to his wife Amélie Julie Castelneau, who in turn bequeathed it to her private secretary, Sir John Murray Scott. The latter sold part of it at Christie's London on 24-27 June 1913 and gave the rest to his mistress Victoria Sackville-West, who sold it all to the dealer Jacques Seligmann in 1927. Our table may therefore have been part of this large collection of furniture located in Paris.

The table then became part of the collections of the Gourgaud barons, belonging to Napoleon Gourgaud (1857-1918) or his son Gaspard-Napoléon Gourgaud (1881-1944). This family is notable for its close ties to Napoleon, including the first Baron Gaspard (1783-1852), who accompanied the Emperor to the island of Saint Helena until his death.

Finally, the last name mentioned is that of the Coudein family, descended from a dynasty of sailors, one of whose ancestors was aboard the Medusa when it sank in 1816. The descendants were close to the Gourgaud family and members of the Society of Friends of the Isle of Aix, linked to Napoleonic history, as the Isle of Aix was the Emperor's last place of residence before his departure for Saint Helena.