A guéridon by Hector Guimard preempted by Orsay

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11/4/23 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée d’Orsay - Reference collection for the work of Hector Guimard, the Musée d’Orsay has acquired a new piece of furniture by him. Preempted after being sold for €120,000 by the hammer at the Important design sale organised by Sotheby’s Paris on 22 November 2022, the guéridon (ill. 1 and 2), one of the key pieces of the sale, will soon join the museum’s Art Nouveau rooms.


1. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Guéridon, 1899-1909
Walnut wood and marquetry of burr walnut, birch, maple, sycamore and mother of pearl inlay
maple, sycamore and mother of pearl inlay - 69 x 65.7 x 53.7 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo : Sotheby’s
See the image in its page

Of this walnut guéridon with burl walnut, birch, maple and sycamore marquetry, which until then had remained in private hands, another example was known to have been sold for €160,000 (without costs) at Drouot on 9 June 2010, where it was offered for sale by Aguttes. While the latter is signed and dated 1909, the copy that is going to the Musée d’Orsay bears the artist’s monogram on the top and on the reverse side an exhibition label from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris with the handwritten words "GUIMARD" and the date "1933". As stated in the museum’s notice [1], it is therefore possible that the preempted guéridon was the one published in La Revue d’art in November 1899 as an illustration for Frantz Jourdain’s article "Les Meubles Modernes" [2] while the copy offered for sale in 2010 could correspond to a later manufacture, contemporary with the creation of the Hôtel Guimard, where we know that the couple owned at least one copy of the furniture.


2. Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
Guéridon, view of the table top, 1899-1909
Bois de noyer et marqueterie de ronce de noyer, de bouleau,
d’érable, de sycomore et incrustation de nacre - 69 x 65,7 x 53,7 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo : Sotheby’s
See the image in its page

The label affixed under the tray would indicate that it is the pedestal table exhibited in the great exhibition organised by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1933, Le décor de la vie sous la IIIe République de 1870 à 1900. It could correspond to the Guimard "table en marqueterie" mentioned in the catalogue published at the time [3]. The copy presented came from the artist’s personal collection, which is consistent with the history indicated by Sotheby’s in its notice, "acquired directly from Hector Guimard before 1938".

Julie Demarle

Footnotes

[1We thank the Musée d’Orsay for the precise information it provided.

[2Frantz Jourdain, "Les Meubles Modernes", La Revue d’art, November 1899, p. 7.

[3Le décor de la vie sous la IIIe République de 1870 à 1900, Palais du Louvre, Pavillon de Marsan, avril - juillet 1933, n°1867, p. 232.

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