Collectors and dealers of Asian art in France (1750-1930)

As its many visitors discovered over the autumn and winter, this exhibition in Dijon is a complete success, hailed as it should be by the public and critics alike, and one that we can only endorse. From the originality of the theme to the relevance of the pieces selected, not to mention the quality of the presentation, which gives pride of place to rediscoveries and objects restored for the occasion, the exhibition is unquestionably faultless. The erudition of the subject is accompanied by commendable educational efforts, and is extended very harmoniously in the solid catalogue. Aimed at the curious and specialists alike, the database "Collectors, collectors and dealers in Asian art in France 1700-1939" was officially launched in October 2022 by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, bringing to a close five rich years of a research programme that finds here an almost perfect incarnation.

1. View of the first picture rail in the exhibition
Photo: François Jay

See the image in its page

From the first picture rail (ill. 1) welcoming the visitor, the tone is set: it is a very European Asia that is revealed here, which justifies the interest of La Tribune de l’Art. Although the non-Western arts are outside our strict thematic scope, this is fortunately not the case for the history of taste, the history of collections or the history of the art market, which form the basis of the exhibition’s message. On the left, regular visitors to the Musée du Louvre will recognise at a glance two of the four very famous cornet vases bearing the arms of the Regent Philippe d’Orléans, emblematic examples of pieces intended for export to Europe, the beautiful plate from the Duc de Penthièvre’s Chinese porcelain service will undoubtedly be a discovery for many connoisseurs, as it is a recent purchase by the Louvre’s Objets d’Art department, made in February 2022 from the Parisian dealer Nicolas Fournery. On the right, a superb two-door Japanese cabinet was rediscovered and restored in 2010: this jewel from Dijon, usually kept in reserve, may have an even more exceptional provenance, as Geneviève Lacambre likened it to the diplomatic gifts offered by the Siamese ambassadors received by Louis XIV at the Château de Versailles in 1686!

2. View of the two Chinese vases with neoclassical Parisian mounts and the chest of drawers with Chinese decoration by BVRB from the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon
Photo: Alexandre Lafore

See the image in its page

After the evocation of this commissioned China, it’s time for the objects transformed under the aegis of 17th-century Parisian merchant-merchants, well studied by Sylvia Vriz in the exhibition catalogue: this is an opportunity to admire together (ill. 2) three Dijon pieces bequeathed to the museum by Anthelme & Edma Trimolet in 1878. Combining red Chinese lacquer and European varnish, which was the subject of a Parisian presentation nearly ten years ago (see article), this chest of…