A near pair of Louis XV gilt-bronze mounted satinwood, amaranth, tulipwood, kingwood and marquetry tables, attributed to Jean-Pierre Latz, circa 1750

Sold by the British trade Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845);

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York;

Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 13-15 May 1959, lots 312 and 313;

Christie’s New York, 7 June 2013, lot 313 (sold 60 000$).

Related literature

P. Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1989

H. Hawley, "Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinetmaker," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, September/October 1970

A highly probable attribution to Latz

Originally from Germany, Jean-Pierre Latz settled in Paris in 1719 as a cabinetmaker. He became a favored craftsman to the king before 1741 and established his workshop on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. He specialized in the production of clock cases, Boulle marquetry, and also in floral and kingwood marquetry. His talent and mastery allowed him to supply an international clientele, including Frederick II of Prussia, Augustus III of Poland, Madame Elisabeth, daughter of Louis XV, for her palaces in Colorno, Parma, and also the Duke of Vendôme.

Among his significant output other than clocks, Latz produced small tables decorated with beautiful floral marquetry and featuring a kidney-shaped top, similar to those found on our tables. A writing table with tall, cabriole legs, like ours, is now in the Louvre Museum, from the Grog-Carven donation of 1973 (inv. OA 10464).

A pair of small tables chiffonières with similar floral marquetry is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 488. (Christie’s London sale, November 9, 1982). A similar small writing table, with a trace of the stamp TZ, was sold in The Collection of the Late Andre Meyer, Christie’s New York, 26 October 2001, lot 15. These similar pieces thus allow us to link our tables to the production of Jean-Pierre Latz.

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957)

Thelma Chrysler Foy was the eldest daughter of the wealthy businessman Walter Chrysler. A prominent figure in New York society, she was regularly celebrated for her elegance, with the New York Times describing her as "the woman of the greatest taste...in New York." She assembled a magnificent art collection in her various residences, including her apartment on 91st Street and her estate in Locust Valley. For 18th-century French furniture, she was often advised by Robert Samuels, a gallery owner with the French and Company. The Parke Bernet auction house sold her extensive collection from her two residences at a major auction held from May 13 to 23, 1959.

Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845)

Thanks to the research of Geoffrey de Ballaigue, curator of the Wallace Collection, the initials "EHB," previously attributed to the "Ecuries de l'Hôtel Bourbon," were identified.

Edward Holmes Baldock began his career as a merchant in the early 19th century, selling porcelain and glassware. He then expanded his business to include furniture. He could offer pieces in older styles but also regularly "embellished" French furniture, which he then resold to the British royal family and aristocracy.

These initials are found on pieces made by Baldock for wealthy patrons, but also on earlier pieces, such as two pairs of Boulle marquetry side tables stamped by Etienne Levasseur, delivered to the Duke of Buccleuch (Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, 1996, figs. 40 and 50).