Japanese Style Cabinet Secretary Attributed To G. Viardot, France, Circa 1880
£3,617 per item
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Item details
Height
167.0 cm
Width
65.0 cm
Depth
32.0 cm
Wear conditions
Good
Wear conditions
Excellent
Shows little to no signs of wear and tear.
Good
May show slight traces of use in keeping with age. Most vintage and antique items fit into this condition.
Average
Likely to show signs of some light scratching and ageing but still remains in a fair condition.
Apparent Wear and Tear
Visible signs of previous use including scratches, chips or stains.
Please refer to condition report, images or make a seller enquiry for additional information.
Description
A Japanese style carved wood cabinet attributed to G. Viardot. A painted decor imitating Japanese lacquer, ornamented with flowers, birds and butterflies. Opening onto two drawers and a paper filer, the upright-secretary door is also fitted with red velvet. Surmounted by a drawer and asymmetrical shelves, composed in the Japanese 'zen' spirit, the cabinet stands on four legs joined by a engraved stretcher.
The great influence of the Far-East, through China and Japan, in the second half of the 19th century French art could be found first in painting and soon after in decorative arts and furniture as well.
Following the Franco-English military Campaign led in 1860 against the Imperial army in China, the French troops of Napoleon III brought back from the Summer Palace, a part of the Chinese Imperial court treasure, which will make up the famous Chinese Museum of Empress Eugénie at the Fontainebleau Palace. The French artists won’t be long to take inspiration from those exotic and sumptuous objects for their creations, as they used to do in the 18th century, when the best French cabinet-makers adapted the Chinese lacquers on the luxurious royal chests.
But the influence of Japan, at the Meiji period (1868-1912), came also very quickly to France, thanks to the opening of the country in the middle of the 19th century, as well as the development of traveling and the amazing Universal Exhibitions, in which Japan participated for the first time in 1867 in Paris. Then many Japanese objects and prints were imported to France and to all Europe, and for which some collectors spent already fortunes.
With Manet and Impressionists generation, the passion for Japanese art, more than a simple taste for an exotic style, was still in fashion until the turn of the 19th century. It provoked not only a craze among the French aristocratic families as well as the wealthy Paris High Society, wishing renew their mansion inner decoration, but turned also to a real revolutionary movement among the “avant-garde” artists. Those artists, whoever they were, painters, cabinet-makers or designers of ceramic, bronze and crystal objects, adapted then those techniques and naturalistic motifs unknown until this time.
Condition report:
Good. Wear consistent with age and use.
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Free collection available
Yes
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- Ships from PARIS, France
Cancellations and Returns
Last updated: 24th March 2025
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