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an image of a wooden cabinet with a glass doora tall wooden cabinet with a glass door on top
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250 - Gabriel VIARDOT (1830–1904), in the style of. A display cabi…
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Estimate €500 - €800
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Description
Gabriel VIARDOT (1830–1904), in the style of. A display cabinet in moulded, carved and openwork wood, with bevelled glass and Japanese-inspired decoration. The upper section forms a pagoda surmounted by a patinated bronze dragon. The central section opens via a door panel adorned with a female figure, revealing an interior and three shelves lined with green velvet. The piece rests on a drum-shaped niche, supported by a base with small, curved feet. It opens via a waist drawer embellished with inlaid bird and flower motifs. Paris. Late 19th-century Japonist period H_185 cm W_60 cm D_35 cm Gabriel Viardot (1830–1904) Gabriel Viardot is regarded as one of the leading exponents of Japanese-style furniture, which was in vogue in the late 19th century. Viardot began his career as a woodcarver in 1849, before taking over the family cabinet-making business in 1861.Around 1865, he moved away from imitations of Renaissance styles and the great historical traditions, becoming one of the first to embark on creating furniture in the ‘Chinese-Japanese style’. The craze was such that the term ‘Japonism’, coined in 1872 by the art critic Philippe Burty, was established as early as 1878 with its inclusion in Pierre Larousse’s *Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle*, and subsequently in Émile Littré’s work in 1886. And Viardot was one of its leading ambassadors. Viardot’s creations, brimming with imagination, were regularly awarded medals at the World’s Fairs from 1867 to 1900; the jury praised ‘his Japanese-style furniture, which is always highly interesting both for its style and its flawless craftsmanship’. Her display furniture – display cabinets and small sideboards – is particularly well represented at a time when the upper middle classes were developing a passion for trinkets, objets d’art and small bronzes Dragons, flowering plants and Tonkin mother-of-pearl The furniture is, naturally, adorned with bronzes featuring dragon motifs that emerge from a recess in the piece or cling to a pagoda-shaped cornice… A symbol of good fortune in Asia, this mythical creature was immediately adopted by Viardot, who made it his favourite animal. On display cabinets, the dragon is often paired with a design featuring palaces, flowering plants, butterflies and birds, rendered in inlays of Tonkin mother-of-pearl. As Viardot’s inventiveness knew no bounds, his creativity was applied to several ranges of furniture marked with stamps featuring different lettering styles, ranging from the most understated to the most elegant, enclosed within an ellipse. Other pieces of furniture never bore Viardot’s name, as they were marketed by L’Escalier de Cristal, whose cabinetmaker supplied the designs to the famous dealer and publisher. Identifiable thanks to their references in Henri Pannier’s notebooks, these pieces too can be attributed with certainty to the ‘king of Japonism’ - Expert: PEPE Stephane
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About the sale Classical Art #13
Auction location
Auction time 07/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits:
MAISON LANDRE
See original version (French)
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