The Age Of Rococo - Part 4

Until 1957, Bernard van Risenburgh was known only by his initials as they appeared on pieces of his workmanship - B.V.R.B. The stamping of a personal mark became obligatory for every cabinet-maker and joiner in the Paris guild from 1743 until 1791, with the exceptions of those working directly for the royal household, as well as a privileged group of foreign craftsmen with premises in the Faubourg St Antoine area. The mark usually consists of the surname followed by the letters 'JME' (jure des menuisiers et ebenistes) stamped into the wood in an inconspicuous place.
On a commode, it is usually to be found in the unpolished wood below the marble top. Research has brought to light not only fairly complete lists of the members of the guild working during the second half of the 18th century, until all guilds were abolished following the Revolution, but also a remarkable fund of information concerning the relationships between whole tribes of craftsmen. The official guild system was backed up by an unofficial dynastic one resulting from intermarriage between families in the handmade furniture trade.

Large provincial centres, such as Lyons, also had their guilds and other systems of applying 'estampilles' (stamped names) but much less is known about them. Some of them achieved high standards and it should be emphasized that merely because a piece bears no mark, it does not follow that it is not genuinely 18th century - it may be a good provincial article, or one made in Paris before 1751 when the stamp became a legal requirement and not merely, as in 1743, a guild regulation that was often defied. The object of the system was to maintain high standards of workmanship by requiring the craftsman to put his name to his products, thus also putting his reputation to the test.

Sophisticated French fitted and non fitted furniture, is conveniently divided into two main groups - 'ebenisterie', i.e. pieces which were veneered, such as commodes; and 'menuiserie', i.e. pieces not veneered, such as chairs and settees. A characteristic of most sophisticated pieces, whether solid or veneered, during the Louis XV period was the elimination of the straight line wherever possible. Not only the decoration but the pieces themselves followed graceful lines, of which the S-shaped curve of the cabriole leg, often embodied in the outline of the carcase, was consistently present. The word 'cabriole' was not used to describe this type of leg until the 19th century, and is derived from the Latin 'capra (goat).

The cabriole leg evolved from ancient shapes found on furniture in Egypt, Greece and Rome that were modelled on the legs of animals. The correct French term for the shape is 'pied-de-biche' (foot of a hind, or female deer). The French version of the leg usually joined the under-edge of the frame in an uninterrupted concave curve. The leg terminated in a carved, upward-turning scroll on 'menuiserie', or was shod with a gilt bronze sabot cast in the form of a hoof, paw or foliate scroll on ebenisterie.
In such as position, the bronze is serving a protective function for the wood underneath as well as providing a decorative finish.

...to be continued