Mobilier de salle à manger : buffet
















Hors concours in the Universal Exhibition of 1900, because Félix Pérol was a member of the international jury, the firm of Pérol Frères decided to exhibit a set of dining room furniture which included this buffet.
The international jury's report described the set as "perfect in design and taste". Going beyond the homage paid to a member of the jury, the eulogistic description below shows the extent to which this furniture, with the floral décor that Art Nouveau had brought into vogue, was in phase with the taste of the time: "Straight lines dominate in these tinted, polished and varnished mahogany pieces. Duckweed is the decorative motif and nothing is prettier to see than the sprinkling of tiny leaves in gilt copper astutely sprinkled over the dark wood. [...] It is a very healthy form of modernism."
It was probably for this modern aspect that Paul Rouaix made the curious choice of this mahogany dining room furniture to illustrate the entry on "Modern Style" in his Dictionnaire des Arts décoratifs. He cites lack of symmetry as one of the characteristics of Art Nouveau and yet nothing could be more symmetrical than this furniture. This choice should be interpreted as an indication of the importance of the Pérol firm in the early twentieth century.
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Object details
History - Provenance
- jusqu'en 2005, galerie Antonin Rispal
- 2005, accepté par l'Etat à titre de donation de Mme Antonin Rispal pour l'Etablissement public du musée d'Orsay (conseil scientifique de l'EPA M'O du 07/06/2005, commission des acquisitions de l'EPA M'O du 13/06/2005, conseil artistique des Musées nationaux du 22/06/2005, décision du président de l'EPA M'O n°2005-34-/DM du 19/10/2005)
Exhibition History
- Exposition Universelle - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - France, Paris, 1900
- Un ensemble Art Nouveau. La donation Rispal - musée d'Orsay, Paris - France, Paris, 2006 - 2007
Bibliography
- Neveux, Pol, Rapport du Jury international. Exposition universelle internationale de 1900 à Paris, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1902, groupe XII, classe 69, meubles de luxe et meubles à bon marché, p. 126
- Rouaix, Paul, Dictionnaire des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Montgredien ; Librairie illustrée, p.1036-1044
- Ledoux-Lebard, Denise, Le Mobilier français du XIXe siècle. Dictionnaire des ébénistes et menuisiers, 1795-1889, Paris, Editions de l'Amateur, 2000, p.519
- Thiébaut, Philippe ; Gabet, Olivier ; Héran, Emmanuelle ; Massé, Marie-Madeleine, Un ensemble Art Nouveau : la donation Rispal, [Exposition, 2006], Paris, Musée d'Orsay ; Flammarion, 2006, cat. n°32
- Thiébaut, Philippe, L'Estampille, L'Objet d'art, "La Donation Rispal : un exceptionnel ensemble Art nouveau au musée d'Orsay", Dijon, SFBD-Archéologia, 2006, p. 66-67
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