Day 184 - Louis XV writing desk - literally
September 4, 2019
I neglected to note ealier that galleries 522-535 are known as the Wrightsman Galleries, having been established with an endowment from Charles and Jayne Wrightsman in 1963. I remember reading her obituary earlier this year - she died at 99- and being impressed by the story of a young woman from a modest background who married well (he was an oilman significantly older than she) and became a noted socialite and patron of the arts. She didn't attend college, but the two traveled widely and learned a great deal about art, especially 18th century French decorative arts. And they paid it forward, as major benefactors not only of the Met but also of the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Hermitage.
Galle 525 is a salon from a grand house in Paris, the Hotel de Varengeville, which was built in 1704 and stood on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. The room, which appears to be about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, is a great space with cream-colored walls elaborately paneled with gilded designs. The furniture, most of which was given to the museum by the Wrightsmans (although a few pieces were the gifts of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. or purchased with funds from the Samuel Kress Foundation) typically consists of chairs and a settee with curving backs and curlicued legs as well as commodes and cabinets that are also gilded. All very rococo. I'm intersted to see the Japanese influence in a couple of corner cabinets that, although made in France, are decorated with Japanese scenes, as well as in a pair of large porcelain potpourri containers that were made in Japan (but placed in gilt bronze mounts that are distinctively French). Despite an ornate 16-light candelabra suspended from the ceiling and other candle holders placed around the room, the salon is very dark; I have to use the flashlight app on my cell phone to read many of the captions. Because of the darkness, it's not a space that invites extnded looking, unless, I suppose, you're a connoisseur of 18th century home furnishings (home furnishings possessed by people of great wealth, that is).
Today's object cannot fail to impress. It's a writing table, perhaps 7 feet long and 30 inches wide, made in 1759 of lacquered oak - again the Asian influence (although the red tone of the lacquer is more evident in my photo than it is in the dim gallery). The table's top is inset with leather, and its curvaceous front and legs are adorned with gilt bronze. Its size and handsomeness bespeak authority, and I'm not amazed to read that the table was delivered to Versailles to grace the cabinet interieur where Louis XV conducted royal business.
Galle 525 is a salon from a grand house in Paris, the Hotel de Varengeville, which was built in 1704 and stood on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. The room, which appears to be about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, is a great space with cream-colored walls elaborately paneled with gilded designs. The furniture, most of which was given to the museum by the Wrightsmans (although a few pieces were the gifts of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. or purchased with funds from the Samuel Kress Foundation) typically consists of chairs and a settee with curving backs and curlicued legs as well as commodes and cabinets that are also gilded. All very rococo. I'm intersted to see the Japanese influence in a couple of corner cabinets that, although made in France, are decorated with Japanese scenes, as well as in a pair of large porcelain potpourri containers that were made in Japan (but placed in gilt bronze mounts that are distinctively French). Despite an ornate 16-light candelabra suspended from the ceiling and other candle holders placed around the room, the salon is very dark; I have to use the flashlight app on my cell phone to read many of the captions. Because of the darkness, it's not a space that invites extnded looking, unless, I suppose, you're a connoisseur of 18th century home furnishings (home furnishings possessed by people of great wealth, that is).
Today's object cannot fail to impress. It's a writing table, perhaps 7 feet long and 30 inches wide, made in 1759 of lacquered oak - again the Asian influence (although the red tone of the lacquer is more evident in my photo than it is in the dim gallery). The table's top is inset with leather, and its curvaceous front and legs are adorned with gilt bronze. Its size and handsomeness bespeak authority, and I'm not amazed to read that the table was delivered to Versailles to grace the cabinet interieur where Louis XV conducted royal business.
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