France, Louis XVI period, 1787
Stamped G. BENEMAN on one
Guillaume (Jean) Benneman (1750−1811)
Ink marks of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne: two interlaced and crowned G
Mahogany veneer, chased and gilt bronze
Turquin blue marble top
Provenance:
- Delivered in 1787 for Thierry de Ville d’Avray’s salon in Versailles, for th the new Hôtel du Garde- Meuble, 9–11, rue des Réservoirs, or for for his apartments in the Château de Versailles, in the former apartments of Madame du Barry
- Delivered in October 1791 by Benneman after restoration and enrichment for the royal palace of the Tuileries to furnish the apartment of King Louis XVI
Side length: 32 1⁄4 inches — 82 cm
Front width: 45 1⁄4 inches — 115 cm
Height: 39 inches — 99,5 cm
With its restrained and elegant design, this pair of corner cupboards stands as a privileged witness to the final years of the Ancien Régime. Made by the Crown’s cabinetmaker for the Intendent of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, it reflects the organization of this institution, which was responsible for furnishing the royal residences.
BENNEMAN, LAST CABINETMAKER TO KING LOUIS XVI
A German cabinetmaker born in 1748 in Westphalia, Jean Benneman (1748 – after 1804) settled in Paris in 1773, between the Louvre and the Palais-Royal. He was exceptionally received as a Master cabinetmaker in 1785 by order of the Controller General of Finances, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne. At that time, he was registered under the first name “Guillaume,” which he kept thereafter and which appears in his stamp, G.BENNEMAN (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 — Guillaume (Jean) Benneman’s stamp, detail of one of the corners of our pair
Around the same period, he was chosen by the new Intendent of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville d’Avray (1732–1792), to replace the celebrated cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener (1734–1806). Benneman headed a large workshop with ten workbenches and fulfilled numerous commissions from the royal administration. Based at 6 rue du Forez, north of the Marais, he repaired old furniture, completed existing ensembles already in the royal collections, and delivered new pieces. The creation of some of the finest furniture of the late Ancien Régime was thus entrusted to him.
Benneman’s production is characterized by elegant yet powerful lines. It includes furniture made in series from recurring models—often simply veneered in mahogany or native woods—as well as exceptional commissions. Moving from the sober, balanced Louis XVI style to the more ornate Consulate taste, Benneman skillfully adapted to the aesthetic evolution of the final decades of the eighteenth century.
Fig. 2 — Guillaume (Jean) Benneman, Chest of drawers made in 1787 for Cécile Marguerite Thierry de Ville d’Avray, wife of Marc Antoine Thierry de Ville d’Avray, intendant of the Garde-Meuble, 1787, Paris, Louvre Museum (inv. OA 5504)
© 2012 Musée du Louvre, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Thierry Ollivier
Stamped by the cabinetmaker, this pair of corner cabinets exemplifies the noble Louis XVI style favored by Benneman in the late 1780s. Delivered for Thierry de Ville d’Avray at Versailles, they can be compared to two chests of drawers commissioned by the intendent in 1787 for his wife’s apartment at the Hôtel du Garde-Meuble. Both of those chests of drawers are still known today: one is preserved in the Musée du Louvre (Fig. 2), and the other has returned to the Hôtel de la Marine (Fig. 3). The chests of drawers and corner cupboards share the same fine flamed mahogany veneer, the same frieze of fluting and gilt-bronze floral garlands, and the same framed façades. Their simple, straight lines and discreet antique ornamentation embody a perfectly measured neoclassicism.
Fig. 3 - Guillaume (Jean) Benneman, Chest of drawers made in 1787 for Cécile Marguerite Thierry de Ville d’Avray, wife of Marc Antoine Thierry de Ville d’Avray, intendant of the Garde-Meuble, 1787, Paris, Hôtel de la Marine (inv. HDM2022800363)
© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux
THE GARDE-MEUBLE DE LA COURONNE
Appointed head of th Garde-Meuble in 1784, Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville d’Avray undertook a major reform of the institution. It resulted in a significant rationalization of costs and a reorganization of the procurement process. The intendent established a particularly innovative workshop system, the régie, directed by the sculptor Jean Hauré (1739 – after 1796), who coordinated the creation and restoration of all royal furniture from 1784 to 1789. Ville d’Avray thus achieved the remarkable feat of renewing the furnishings of the royal residences in just five years.
Corner cupboards for the Intendant of the Garde-Meuble
Benneman integrated into this new organization and worked under Hauré’s supervision on cabinetmaking commissions. The latter recorded the delivery of our pair of corner cupboards for Ville d’Avray at Versailles in 1787. A memorandum from the Garde-Meuble, dated September 21 and written in Hauré’s hand (1), reads as follows:
“For the Service of the Controller General
For the Salon: two corner cabinets in armoire form, 15 inches deep, decorated with a frieze of fluting and consoles, plain moldings, heart-and-dart moldings, and white marble tops.
Benneman – Cabinetmaking … 116 l. 15 s.
Michel – Locksmithing …17 l. 8 s.
Ravrio & Bardin – Casting … 58 l. 14 s.
Cantelou – Fire-gilding .…82 l. 17 s.
Lanfant – Two white marble tops measuring together 4 feet .… 24 l.
Master Benneman – Labor and incidentals .… 72 l.”
The corner cupboards were then placed in Thierry de Ville d’Avray’s apartment at the Hôtel du Garde-Meuble in Versailles on rue des Réservoirs—or possibly in his quarters within the Château of Versailles itself.
The mark with two crowned Gs
We find on this pair of corner cupboards the stamp of the two crowned Gs (Fig. 4). Long enigmatic, this mark was recently studied by Renaud Serrette and is now believed to correspond to that of the Royal Garde-Meuble. Usually applied with a branding iron, and occasionally with a brush as in this case, the mark distinguished furniture delivered directly to the Garde-Meuble by artisans, as well as pieces being transferred between royal residences or held in long-term storage.
Fig. 4 - Ink mark with two crowned Gs, detail of one of the corners cupboards of our pair
Already in use under Louis XV, this stamp appears on numerous pieces delivered between the late 1780s and 1792. It provides precious evidence of our corner cabinets’ passage through the collections of the Garde-Meuble.
Hauré’s administration came to an end in June 1789. Benneman then dealt directly with the Garde-Meuble—something he had occasionally done before. Despite the upheavals of the French Revolution, he continued to receive a few commissions from the royal administration, which maintained its functions. One of his most important projects was the Palais des Tuileries, where the king and royal family took up residence in October 1789.
The Royal Faamily at the Tuileries
On the morning of October 6, 1789, an urgent message arrived at the Palais des Tuileries, ordering its occupants to vacate the premises for the arrival of the royal family that very day. Escorted by the Parisian crowd from Versailles, King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette, the Dauphin, Madame Royale, and the king’s sister Madame Élisabeth were compelled to settle in Paris.
The Tuileries Palace, which was to receive them, was in a deplorable state. The king had not visited it since 1744, and the apartments had been occupied by various pensioners and courtiers who had partitioned rooms, added mezzanines, and pierced chimneys without regard for the royal building. When the royal family arrived, chaos reigned: the apartments were under repair, and only a few dilapidated pieces of furniture remained. Only the queen’s own apartment—arranged in 1784 on the mezzanine of the first floor as a pied-à-terre for her evenings at the opera—was in good condition.
The immediate concern was to furnish the palace. Beginning on October 8, the Garde-Meuble sent furniture, fabrics, and tapestries without interruption. Furniture from other royal residences was recovered: the gilded wood suite from the king’s bedchamber at Choisy was brought to Paris for his grand apartment. The three famous chests of drawers by Riesener, made for the queen’s Salon des Nobles at Versailles (Fig. 5), were transferred to the Tuileries in January 1790 and installed in the king’s grand bedchamber.
Fig. 5 — Jean-Henri Riesener, Chest of drawers from the Queen’s Salon des Nobles at Versailles, delivered for the King’s bedroom at the Tuileries in 1790, Louis XVI period, Paris, Louvre Museum (inv. OA 5229), currently on loan to the Palace of Versailles
© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / RMN Agence photo
After the failed flight to Varennes in June 1791, the royal family settled permanently at the Tuileries and undertook major redecoration work. It was in this context that our pair of corner cabinets was reworked by Benneman before being placed in the king’s apartment. A memorandum from the cabinetmaker dated October 1791 records:
“Re-veneered two large corner cabinets in mahogany, decorated with fluted pilasters and rosettes in the panels, upper and lower moldings, panels framed with plain and double beaded borders, false and English-style lock escutcheons, newly made feet similar to those of the commodes, with gilt-bronze mounts, sabots, and carved ornaments. Both fitted with blue turquin marble tops. Fixed price for both cabinets: 800 livres.
For the Service of the King”
Fig. 6 - Guillaume (Jean) Benneman, Pair of corner cupboards, detail, 1787, Galerie Léage
Restored and fitted with new blue turquin marble tops—which they still retain today—these corner cabinets then took their place in the final residence of King Louis XVI.
Références
1. Archives Nationales (Marais), « Comptes, mémoires, relevés, factures de toutes sortes, des fournisseurs et des ouvriers du Garde-Meuble », Maison du Roi (O1 3645)
2. Archives nationales, Archives nationales (Marais), « Comptes, mémoires, relevés, factures de toutes sortes, des fournisseurs et des ouvriers du Garde-Meuble », Maison du Roi (O1 655)
Bibliographie
Jean Pichelin, “Benneman. L’ultime ébéniste de Louis XVI” in L’Objet d’Art n° 614, septembre 2024, p.64–69
Ouvrage collectif, La famille royale à Paris : de l’histoire à la légende, Paris Musée, 1993
Jean Charles (dir.), De Versailles à Paris. Le destin des collections royales, Centre culturel du Panthéon, 1994
