THE PAINTED DECORATION BY JEAN-CHARLES-MARIE JOURDEUIL, DATED 1836, WITH LATER ELEMENTS

■Post sale offsite storage

Estimate

USD 20,000 - USD 40,000

Loading details

Try our

Cost calculator

A SET OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE POLYCHROME-DECORATED BOISERIE PANELS

THE PAINTED DECORATION BY JEAN-CHARLES-MARIE JOURDEUIL, DATED 1836, WITH LATER ELEMENTS

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

Featuring cream-painted panels decorated with with neoclassical trophies such as oil lamps, athéniennes, urns and acanthus-leaves over red and black-painted lower panels decorated with winged horses and scrolling cartouches, together with a collection of supporting decorative elements, one pilaster element inscribed in pencil on reverse '‘Bideau Major fecit / Jourdeuil pinxit / Carasson … / … / et … / … / Anno Domini 1836 / …’
95¹⁄₄ in. (242 cm.) high, 38³⁄₄ in. (98.5 cm.) wide, the largest panel

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Sale Enquires Collections: New YorkCollections: New York

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

View condition report

Lot Essay

The inscription on the reverse of one of the pilasters of this set of boiserie panels reveals that their decoration was painted in 1836 by a certain Monsieur Jourdeuil. It is almost certain, that the artist in question is Jean-Charles-Marie Jourdeuil (1811-1868), renown collector, painter, at the Ecole St. Pierre in Lyon, and director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts there. Jourdreuil lived and worked in St. Petersburg between 1845 and 1855, and it was there that his son Louis-Marie- Adrien, also a painter and architect, was born in 1849. Few identifiable or signed works survive by Jourdreuil senior, making these panels particularly rare and interesting.

For a stage design signed . see Christie’s, South Kensington, 15 December 2000, lot 157. This drawing features a complex capriccio of arcaded colonnades executed in the Etruscan style very similar to the painted decoration of these boiserie panels. Jourdreuil is most remembered as a collector of drawings and many works from his estate were sold by Sotheby’s in London 12-13 June, 1868. Some pieces from his extensive collection are now preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, such as an early eighteenth-century design for picture frames (inv. 6699) and numerous interior elevations and plans from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque (invs. 6663, 6655, 6699). Among the drawings from his collection now at the Victoria and Albert Museum is a pilaster design in the “antique style” by Giuseppe Manocchi (c. 1731-1782) that relate to the decorative elements used by Joudeuil on the present panels (inv. 6706). For a drawing depicting antique classical ruins by Charles-Michelange Challe (1718-1878) formerly in Jourdeuil’s collection, see Christie’s, London, 5 December 2006, lot 81.
It is clear that Jourdeuil was heavily influenced by classical motifs of the Renaissance and the Neoclassical eras and that he had a very good understanding of their use and application. These panels were decorated in a Neoclassical taste with Etruscan roots that was still very much throughout Europe in the 1830s and 40s. The Italian influence on Joudeuil's decoration of this set is understandable as during his formative years and much of his activity in Lyon, his city bordered the Kingdom of Sardinia, situated just to the east of the Rhone river. Throughout the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, Neoclassicism was favored by the ruling Savoy family, who had their residences updated and refurbished in this style by leading craftsmen of the time. One such artist was Pelagio Palagi (1775-1860), whose interiors for the Palazzo Racconigi, such as the Gabinetto di Apollo, are decorated in a manner and color palette very similar to that of Joudeuil's panels offered here.

More from

The Collector: New York

View All

Condition report

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

I confirm that I have read this Important Notice regarding Condition Reports and agree to its terms.

View Condition Report

The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.

Comprising approximately 63 pieces in total; including 14 cream-painted central panels, 13 black and red-painted lower panels, __ upper dividing pilasters, 15 lower diving pilasters, and __ cornices. Overall with period elements and well-matched modern structural additions. All panels with scattered age and construction cracks. The decoration with some scattered minor losses, abrasions, flaking, rubbing and surface dirt. Some of the gilding refreshed. Some scattered inpainting. Some have evidence of old, inactive woodworm on reverse. Further enumeration below:

The Cream-Painted Pictorial Panels:
Panel 1 – 94¹⁄₂ in. x 33 in.
Panel 2 – 94¹⁄₂ in. x 35 in.
Panel 3 – 94 in. x 32¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 4 – 83¹⁄₂ in. x 34 in.
Panel 5 – 95¹⁄₄ in. x 32 in.
Panel 6 – 94³⁄₄ in. x 31³⁄₄ in.
Panel 7 – 94³⁄₄ in. x 35¹⁄₂ in.

The pictorial panels are period. The cream-painted surrounds are partially modern, varying panel by panel. All panels are structurally sound and many are reinforced on reverse. The later additions are well incorporated. With scattered age and construction cracks to most of the pictorial period panels. The decoration with some scattered minor losses, abrasions, rubbing and surface dirt. Some scattered inpainting. Some light surface dirt. Generally presents very well. Will require some touch-ups and restorations once installed, as expected.

The Lower Black and Red Painted Panels:
Panel 20 – 31 x 39 in.
Panel 21 – 25¹⁄₂ in. x 38¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 22 – 30 in. x 34¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 23 – 29¹⁄₂ in. x 39 in.
Panel 24 – 29 in. x 39 in.
Panel 25 – 23 in. x 33³⁄₄ in.
Panel 26 – 29 in. x 33 in.
Panel 27 – 29 in. x 34¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 28 – 29³⁄₄ in. x 34¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 29 – 29¹⁄₂ in. x 33¹⁄₂ in.
Panel 30 – 27 in. x 33 in.
Panel 31 – 29 in. x 30 in.
Panel 32 – 30 in. x 37¹⁄₂ in.

Most of the lower panels are basically of the period, some with later panels attached to the front to cover up old cut-outs; these later panels are now loose and should be secured once reassembled. The faux marble painting on these later additions is well-matched to the originals. All panels with scattered age and construction cracks. The decoration with some scattered minor losses, abrasions, flaking, rubbing and surface dirt. Some scattered inpainting. A number of the panels have uneven tops and/or bottoms, which are covered by other panels once placed in situ. Some panels with an approx. 3 in. x 2 in. cut-out right above the polychrome-painted panels; possibly for an earlier electrical fitting. Generally presents very well. Will require some touch-ups and restorations once installed, as expected.

The Lower Pilasters:
Comprising 13 single panels, 2 wider panels and 1 double panel
The single panels are approx. 33 in. x 11¹⁄₄ in.
The two wider panels are approx. 33¹⁄₂ in. x 16¹⁄₂ in.
The double panel is 33¹⁄₂ in. x 22³⁄₄ in.

The single pilasters are generally period and with some elements a later addition, mostly the giltwood and the faux marble painted elements. The two wider pilasters and the double width pilasters are modern

Print Report