Gabriel Viardot (1830-1906) Mid-taste Chinese Tiered Flat Desk Stamped 19th Century

Gabriel VIARDOT (1830-1906) FLAT DESK WITH A SINIZING DECORATION All sides in stained wood, engraved with floral scrolls decorated with pagodas Five tiered drawers and four drawers simulating five in a belt. Wooden tray set with a bronze ingot mold with plant decoration and resting on four lion shank feet applied with gilded bronze masks Art Nouveau bronze drop feet All the original keys are present. Iron stamp 105 x 56 cm Height 110 cm Gabriel VIARDOT, cabinetmaker and wood sculptor, inherited the family business, a carpentry in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris, around 1865, and began creating furniture inspired by the style Chinese-Japanese. His work draws its essence from oriental mythology, where dragons, phoenixes, salamanders, and other fantastical creatures are omnipresent. He creates furniture combining Sino-Japanese influences and art nouveau, adapted to European preferences. His merit is recognized by the Legion of Honor, awarded after the exhibitions in Nice and the 8th exhibition of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. Viardot created works intended for a wealthy clientele, his style being particularly popular in the second half of the 19th century in France and England, attracting the bourgeoisie, aesthetes, collectors and artists such as Monet and Debussy. Among his notable friends was Georges Clemenceau, a politician passionate about Asia and a great collector, who ordered furniture from him for his apartment on rue Franklin, now transformed into a museum. Clémence d'Ennery, a lover of Chinese and Japanese arts, is also among her exceptional clients, having ordered a significant number of display cases from Viardot that are still on display. Viardot successfully participated in many significant exhibitions of the second half of the 19th century. His presence was rewarded with a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1878, the first where he exhibited in the section dedicated to luxury furniture, as well as gold medals at the exhibitions in Antwerp in 1885, in Paris in 1889 and 1900. In the meantime, he contributed to the exhibitions of the Central Union of Decorative Arts, where he was distinguished as a member of the jury in 1884 and placed out of competition.