10/3/22 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée d’Orsay - While the Musée d’Orsay’s decorative arts collections from the 1848-1889 period should soon - in 2024 most likely - benefit from new rooms, located opposite the Salle des Fêtes [1], they have been enhanced by a piece acquired from the Galerie Marc Maison. Made by Alphonse Giroux and presented at the 1867 Universal Exhibition, this neo-Gothic prie-Dieu (ill. 1 to 4) joins the exceptional collection of furniture created for the Universal Exhibitions already preserved.
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- 4. Alphonse Giroux House
Gothic Prie-Dieu, detail, 1867
Ebony, champlevé enamel, painting on copper (replaced), illumination on cardboard, ivory (added), textile
165 x 64 x 64 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Musée d’Orsay/RMN-GP/ Sophie Crépy - See the image in its page
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- 4. Alphonse Giroux House
Gothic Prie-Dieu, 1867
Ebony, champlevé enamel, painting on copper (replaced), illumination on cardboard, ivory (added), textile
165 x 64 x 64 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Musée d’Orsay/RMN-GP/ Sophie Crépy - See the image in its page
Executed at the time Alphonse-Gustave Giroux sold his company to Ferdinand Duvinage et Harinkouck, the prie-Dieu bears the marks of both houses, on the inside of the flap and on the reverse of the cross. Founded in 1799 by François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux before being taken over by his sons Alphonse-Gustave and André in 1838, the Maison Alphonse Giroux was one of the most flourishing Parisian cabinet makers and cabinet makers between the Consulate and the Second Empire. Among the prestigious orders that were entrusted to him, let us mention the small secret furniture in lemon tree received by the Duke of Bordeaux and his sister Louise d’Artois, the grandchildren of Charles X, for their New Year’s gifts in 1827, today preserved in the Musée des Arts décoratifs et du Design in Bordeaux, and the impressive bonheur-du-jour in carved wood sold to the Empress Eugénie on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1855, preserved in the Château de Compiègne. From 1867 onwards it was run by Ferdinand Duvinage - with Harinkouck and then on his own from 1870 - then by his widow from 1874 to 1882 and finally by A. Philippe and E. Arnut from 1883 to 1884, the company closed permanently in 1885.
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- 4. Alphonse Giroux House
Gothic Prie-Dieu, detail, 1867
Ebony, champlevé enamel, painting on copper (replaced), illumination on cardboard, ivory (added), textile
165 x 64 x 64 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Musée d’Orsay/RMN-GP/ Sophie Crépy - See the image in its page
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- 4. Alphonse Giroux House
Gothic Prie-Dieu, detail, 1867
Ebony, champlevé enamel, painting on copper (replaced), illumination on cardboard, ivory (added), textile
165 x 64 x 64 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Musée d’Orsay/RMN-GP/ Sophie Crépy - See the image in its page
As the Musée d’Orsay’s detailed notice states, the rich enamelled decoration on the ebony prie-Dieu is exceptional in its technical quality and extent. Executed using the traditional champlevé technique - then rediscovered since the 1840s - which consists of manually hollowing out the cavities in the metal that are to receive the enamel, it evokes the enamelling of the 12th and 13th centuries in Limousin. The choice of colours, notably pink and pale green, is completely original. It was thus noted at the Exposition Universelle not as a "slavish copy of the Middle Ages, but as an inspiration of that period combined with modern taste [2]". It joins in the collections another piece of furniture, also in ebony, decorated with champlevé enamel plates. It is from an earlier decade and was made by the Monbro firm, which specialised in this type of work.
Two later works produced by the former Giroux firm, which operated under the name "Veuve Ferdinand Duvinage", are already in the Musée d’Orsay. The cabinet and the tripod bowl are in ivory marquetry with metal partitions, a technique for which Duvinage registered a patent in 1874. Finally, in the neighbouring collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, there is a magnificent coffer, contemporary with the Alphonse Giroux House and in the same neo-Gothic style. Veneered with engraved ebony and gilded with varnish, it has a shape inspired by the reliquary shrines of the 12th and 13th centuries.