FRENCH SECRETAIRES 37
"The Great Collections," French Connec
tions: Scotland and the Arts of France (Edin
burgh, 1985), p. 66, fig. 30; Handbook1986,
p. 160, illus.; Pierre Cabanne, L'Art du
XVTIIe siecle (Paris, 1987), p. 97, illus.;
Kjellberg, Dictionnaire, pp. 135,139, illus.
p. 130; Pierre Verlet, French Furniture of
the Eighteenth Century, Penelope Hunter-
Stiebel, transí. (Charlottesville, 1991), fig. 3
opposite p. 16; Handbook 1991, p. 176, illus.
- Rolltop Desk
Paris, circa 1785-1788
By Bernard Molitor. Some mounts cast by
the bronzier Fran9ois Rémond after designs
by Gambier
Oak veneered with mahogany and lacquer;
gilt-bronze mounts; griotte de Flandre
marble top
Stamped B. MOLITOR on lip of one
interior drawer.
Height: 4 ft. 6 in. (137 cm); Width:
5 ft. n*4 in. (181 cm); Depth: 2 ft. 10% in.
(87 cm)
Accession number 67.DA. 9
PROVENANCE
(?) Louis XVI, listed in the inventory of the
Chateau de Saint-Cloud, an II (1793-1794);
[Vandyck, London] (offered for sale,
Christie's, London, May 16, 1800, lot 101,
and again February 12,1801, lot 70, bought
in); (?) Octavius E. Coope, London;
Mortimer L. Schiff, New York (sold by
his heir John L. Schiff, Christie's, London,
June 22,1938, lot 59); purchased at that sale
by J. Paul Getty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paul Wescher, "French Furniture of the
Eighteenth Century in the J. Paul Getty
Museum," Art Quarterly 18, no. 2 (Summer
1955), p. 125, illus. p. 133; Gerald Messadié,
"J. Paul Getty, Malibu, California," Great
Private Collections, Douglas Cooper, ed.
(Zurich, 1963), pp. 180-191, illus. p. 186;
Verlet et al., Chefi d'oeuvre, p. 131, illus.;
Getty, Collecting, illus. p. 161; Ulrich Leben,
"Die Werkstatt Bernard Molitors," Kunst
und Antiquitäten 4 (1987), pp. 52-60, detail
illus. p. 52, fig. 1; Ulrich Leben, Bernard
Molitor (i/tf-1833): Leben und Werk, eines
Pariser Kunsttischlers, Ph.D. diss. (Bonn,
1989), p. 108; Kjellberg, Dictionnaire,
p. 582; Ulrich Leben, Molitor: Ebéniste from
the Ancien Regime to the Bourbon Restoration
(London, 1992), p. 153, no. 70, pp. 190-191,
figs. 8-9, 81-82,154.
SECRETAIRES
- Secretaire
Paris, circa 1755
By Jacques Dubois
Oak veneered with panels of red Chinese
lacquer and painted with vernis Martin;
gilt-bronze mounts; breche dAlep top
Stamped I. DUB OIS and J ME at rear on
right upright.
Height: 3 ft. 4/2 in. (102.8 cm); Width:
3 ft. 9 in. (114.3 cm); Depth: 1 ft. 3/8 in.
(38.4 cm)
Accession number 65 .DA.3
PROVENANCE
[Rosenberg and Stiebel, Inc., New York];
purchased by J. Paul Getty, 1951.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paul Wescher, "French Furniture of the
Eighteenth Century in the J. Paul Getty
Museum," Art Quarterly 18, no. 2 (Summer
1955), p. 122, illus. p. 130; Gerald Messadié,
"J. Paul Getty, Malibu, California," Great
Private Collections, Douglas Cooper, ed.
(Zurich, 1963), pp. 180-191, illus. p. 189;
Verlet et al., Chefs d'oeuvre, p. 121, illus.;
Getty, Collecting, p. 151, illus.; Kjellberg,
Dictionnaire, p. 273; Stephane Boiron,
"Jacques Dubois, maitre du style Louis XV,"
LEstampille-LObjet d'am$6 (June 1990),
pp. 42-59, illus. p. 56.
43
