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Lot n° 33

Alexandre-François DESPORTES (Champigneulles,...

Estimate :
100 000 - 150 000 EUR

Alexandre-François DESPORTES (Champigneulles, 1661 - Paris, 1743) Still life with pieces of silverware by Thomas Germain, porphyry vase, Chinese porcelain, peaches and bigarades. Canvas Unframed Height : 186 cm Width: 100 cm In the bibliography, the painting is mentioned as signed and dated 1740. Old restorations History: - From the collection of Jean Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville (1701 - 794) (Lastic, 1969); - collection Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot, sa vente Tableaux anciens et modernes (école française du XVIIIe siècle) et objets d'art et de curiosité provenant de la succession de feu M. Odiot, Paris, March 25-26, 1869, no. 3; - collection comte de La Béraudière; - Louis Guiraud collection, Paris; - Jacques Helft collection; - offered by Jacques Helft to Mr. and Mrs. Arturo Lopez Wilshaw (the painting is illustrated in the book 14 rue du Centre, Monaco 1961, in the staircase of the hôtel particulier). Bibliography : - Michel Faré, La nature morte en France, Genève, Pierre Cailler, 1962, vol. I, p. 210, vol.2, repr. 321 ; - Georges de Lastic, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné de François Desportes, dissertation of the Ecole du Louvre, typed, 1969, no. 1379; - Michel and Fabrice Faré, La vie silencieuse en France. La nature morte au XVIIIe siècle, Fribourg, Office du Livre, 1976, repr. 90; - Jacques Helft, Nouveaux poinçons, Paris, éditions Berger-Levrault, 1980, p.384-385, probably with original frame; - Christiane Perrin, François Thomas Germain orfèvre des rois, Saint-Rémi-En-l'Eau, éditions Monelle Hayot, 1993, p. 98; - Dominique Chevé, Fabrice Faré, "Les tableaux de trompe-l'oeil ou la jouissance de l'illusion", Le Trompe-l'oeil. De l'Antiquité au XXème siècle (ed. Patrick Mauriès), Paris, Gallimard, 1996, p. 206. - Pierre Jacky, François Desportes (1661-1743), doctoral thesis, typed, Université de Paris IV, Sorbonne, 1999, t. IV, p. 812-813. - Georges de Lastic, Pierre Jacky, Desportes, Catalogue raisonné, Saint-Rémi-En-l'Eau, éditions Monelle Hayot, 2010, vol. 1, p.224 and vol.2, p. 229, no. P820, repr. in black & white. - Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Florian Doux, Catherine Gougeon, Orfèvrerie de la Renaissance et des temps modernes, XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle La collection du musée du Louvre, Dijon - Paris, éditions Faton - Louvre édition, 2022, Vol.2, p.195. - Christophe Huchet de Quenetain, l'orfèvre Besnier (1686-1754), 2024, rep.p.249. Exhibitions : - Exhibition of old French Gold & Silver plate XVIth to XVIIIth century, A. Seligmann Galleries, New York, December 1933, no. 81, rep. with probably original frame. - Orfèvrerie française civile de province du XVIème au XVIIIème siècle exhibition, Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs, 1936. - Hommage à Chardin exhibition, Paris, Galerie Heim, June 6 - July 10, 1959, no. 41. Around 1720, Desportes painted his first "grand buffet d'orfèvrerie", an evolution of his lunchtime still lifes in width. Desportes painted two large buffets, one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (circa 1720), and three others in private collections. They were intended to be hung in the woodwork of dining rooms, above marble sideboards on which were placed silverware dishes and various victuals served to guests. Organized in a pyramid shape, these trompe-l'oeil pieces decorated the rooms with unprecedented splendor. Luxurious manufactured objects and garden or farm produce stand out against a backdrop of sky. Here, a porphyry vase sits atop a green marble base adorned with satyr heads and a gilded bronze shell. Below, on an entablature partly covered with red velvet drapery, are hardstone (agate) vases, two Chinese porcelain bowls and three silver pieces by Thomas Germain (1673- 1748). The pot à oille, decorated with a comtale crown, is a model by Thomas Germain, taken over by François-Thomas Germain; a very similar example dated 1741-1744 is known (former Jacques Helft collection). Further down, in the center, a polylobed stew dish, edged with rushes, with two handles, is very similar to the dish with handles made by Thomas Germain in 1733-1734 and which belonged to the Orléans-Penthièvre service (Paris, Musée du Louvre); the only difference is the rush decoration around it. On either side of it are two other rectangular dishes by the same silversmith. These three pieces reflect peaches contained in a terrine whose handles are in the shape of boar's heads (this model by Thomas Germain appeared in 1733). On the marble console, two oranges, a sliced ham and a cut-up slice of ham are set in simpler, everyday serving dishes. Our painting is often compared to

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