A pair of Louis XV bronze mounted Chinese lacquer and Parisian varnish encoignures, circa 1755, attributed to Jacques Dubois

Despite the fact that this pair of encoignures bears no stamp, its decoration of Chinese lacquer and Parisian varnish, as well as the placement and decoration of the bronze mounts framing the panels, strongly suggest the work of the cabinetmaker Jacques Dubois.

This cabinetmaker settled in Paris around 1720-1725, most likely thanks to his half-brother, the prominent cabinetmaker and merchant Noël Gérard, for whom he almost certainly worked. Having become a master craftsman relatively late, in 1742, Dubois was a renowned cabinetmaker whose finest creations are undoubtedly those incorporating Chinese and Japanese lacquer and Parisian varnish. This technique became one of his specialties.

Among the encoignures made by Dubois, we can mention a magnificent pair of Chinese lacquer corner cabinets, at the JP Getty Museum in California (inv.78.DA.119) and another pair in Parisian varnish, sold at True connoisseurship: the Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha, Sotheby’s New York, 20 November 2020, lot 160.