A German cabinetmaker in Paris
Martin Carlin, Manufacture de Sèvres, Bertrand, Jacques-François de Laroche (painter on porcelain), Bertrand (painter on porcelain), Jewel coffer on stand, delivered by Poirier in 1770 to the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette, circa 1770, Versailles, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (inv. V5807)© RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot
We were delighted to welcome yesterday at the gallery Miriam Schefzyk, curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, for the book signing of Martin Carlin et les ébénistes allemands. On this occasion, we invite you to discover this exceptionally talented cabinetmaker.
In the mid-eighteenth century, the German-born Martin Carlin settled in Paris and established himself as a cabinetmaker. Endowed with remarkable talent, he became, in the second half of the century, one of the leading craftsmen of the kingdom.
Martin Carlin, Combination table, circa 1775, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 1976.155.99a‑b)
Martin Carlin was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, near the French border, around 1725⁄1730. The son of a carpenter, he likely learned the fundamentals of woodworking from his father. Like many cabinetmakers from the German-speaking regions, he came to Paris early in his career in order to establish himself there. In 1759, he married Marie-Catherine Œben, sister of the royal cabinetmaker Jean-François Œben (1721–1763), thus entering an influential family of artisans of German origin. Jean-François Œben himself, as well as the cabinetmaker Roger Vandercruse (1728–1799), served as witnesses to the marriage. These family ties facilitated Carlin’s integration into Parisian artisanal circles. By 1763, Martin Carlin was established in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, a privileged district of the capital exempt from strict guild regulations. Working at the corner of the grande-rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine and the rue de Charonne, he operated under the sign La Colombe.
Martin Carlin, Chest of drawers, delivered by the Darnault brothers to Madame Victoire at the Château de Bellevue in April 1785, circa 1785, Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. OA 5498)© 2012 Musée du Louvre, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Thierry Ollivier
In his work, Martin Carlin developed a refined neoclassical taste. His earliest pieces still retain certain rocaille curves and ornaments, which gradually give way to a decorative vocabulary inspired by antiquity. Particularly rich in ornament, his furniture aligns with the so-called “floral antique” style and also reveals a sensitivity to Turkish and Etruscan tastes. Textile-inspired details, vegetal motifs of varying naturalism, and marquetry compositions combining geometry with floral patterns adorn his works. His surroundings and neighbors in the faubourg influenced both his taste and his production. He borrowed pierced legs from Œben, adapting them for use on a writing stand, as well as the overall composition of certain chests of drawers. On some pieces, he employed the same gilt-bronze mounts as Jean-Henri Riesener (1734–1806), and for the marchand-mercier Poirier he supplied cabinet drop-front secretaries similar to those produced by Roger Vandercruse. Drawing on these influences as well as his own talent, Carlin developed furniture of incomparable refinement and luxury.
Martin Carlin, Table with two trays, Louis XVI period, former Galerie Léage collection
Carlin worked primarily with the most influential Parisian marchands-merciers of his time. They provided him with regular commissions and supplied materials of exceptional rarity and preciousness. Through their networks, his works entered the interiors of the French and European aristocratic elite. Simon-Philippe Poirier (c. 1720–1785), followed by his successor Dominique Daguerre (active between 1777 and 1796), were his principal commissioners. Their clientele included the royal family and its circle, as well as several European sovereigns. It was most likely Daguerre who supplied Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1782 with the magnificent secretary made by Carlin and adorned with plaques of Sèvres porcelain, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 1976.155.110). Carlin also worked regularly with the Darnault brothers, other prominent Parisian dealers, who commissioned from him numerous pieces veneered with precious Japanese lacquer.
Martin Carlin, Manufacture de Sèvres, Charles-Nicolas Dodin (painter on enamel), Chest of drawers, delivered by Poirier and Daguerre to Madame du Barry at Versailles in 1772, then placed at Louveciennes in 1774, circa 1772, Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. OA 11293)© 1990 GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Arnaudet
Carlin’s most sought-after works are those embellished with Sèvres porcelain. Poirier, and later Daguerre, acquired from the royal manufactory numerous decorative plaques and painted porcelain panels in soft-paste porcelain, which they entrusted to Carlin to be mounted on his furniture. The cabinetmaker thus produced a wide range of tables, jewel coffers on stand, bonheurs-du-jour, and chests of drawers of extreme luxury. Porcelain was particularly costly and highly prized in the second half of the eighteenth century, and furniture veneered with this luxurious material became indispensable in the apartments of the cultural elite. This taste was likely shaped by Madame du Barry, favorite of Louis XV, who owned in her music pavilion at Louveciennes some of the finest examples of this type of furniture, including the celebrated commode and tea table supplied by Poirier and Daguerre in 1772 and 1774.
Martin Carlin, Sèvres manufactory, Charles Nicolas Dodin (painter on enamel), Tea table, delivered in 1774 by Poirier and Daguerre to Madame du Barry in Louveciennes, circa 1774, Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. OA 10658)© 1998 GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Arnaudet
A cabinetmaker of German origin, like many of his contemporaries in eighteenth-century Paris, Martin Carlin worked for the foremost marchands-merciers of his time and produced for them and their distinguished clientele furniture of great luxury. His porcelain-mounted creations now include some of the most iconic works of the decorative arts of the period.
Bibliography:
Miriam Schefzyk, Martin Carlin et les ébénistes allemands. Migration et intégration à Paris au XVIIIe siècle, éditions Mare & Martin, 2024
Daniel Alcouffe, Anne Dion-Tennebaum et Amaury Lefébure, Le Mobilier du musée du Louvre, éditions Faton, 1993
