Abraham Nicolas Couleru - Secretary Of Slope In Veneer Wood - XVIII Century

Rare secretary or sloping desk in veneer (walnut - plum - cherry) decorated with a marquetry of cubes.
It opens to a flap decorated in a rockery reserve with a marquetry representing a cartridge in the shape of a lampshade and consisting of: a ciborium, a pair of crossed sparklers, surmounted by a cross in leafy scrolls .
The framing system used to "close" the configuration is characteristic of Couleru: a wide, partially curved net following the contour of the flap, in contrast to the bottom veneer and delimiting a large reserve, then the framing formed by the Couleru cartridge confirming the closed configuration of the central reserve plating.
It was an order for a dignitary of the Church.
The plate is engraved and dated with two marks of former owners: initials "DV 1780" and "Petit 1814".
It discovers three rows of animated drawers and also hides 4 secret drawers
- 2 are hidden in the box with access by the slide
- 2 others are hidden behind 2 of animated drawers
In its lower part, it opens with 3 drawers on 2 rows and rests on arched feet. The body is surrounded by a black border.
We find on the front of the box, the configuration closed by the same wide border as on the flap, with an inverted cartridge filled with a marquetry of cubes and perspective effect. The frame is in oak, the softwood drawers and their assembly is characteristic of Couleru
This piece of furniture has its key and all its locks, which work perfectly.
The carpenters-cabinetmakers of Montbéliard were not compelled to the stamp like their French colleagues.
At first, Couleru was content to stick a handwritten and dated label at the bottom of a drawer.

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If at the beginning, I had assigned this office to the workshops of the HACHE Brothers, a more in-depth study as well as exchanges with Mr JY Mornand, co-author of the book "Abraham Nicolas Couleru and provincial cabinetmaking in France in the 18th century - at Faton "attribute, no doubt possible, this piece of furniture to Abraham Nicolas Couleru.
(the exact dimensions, the cutout of the deck, the framing system, the shape of the cartridge, the mounting of the drawers,… everything matches).

See also the article published on the Art Object, n ° 307 of March 2002, written by Bettina Frantz Schwick, art historian in Munich. Couleru is listed in the German work by Kreisel / Himmelheber: "Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels".
This historian notably wrote in French "Symptomatically, for works and books of French Art, Couleru's work belongs to French cabinetmaking, while for specialized German literature, it is placed in cabinetmaking in Germanic countries. … Germany never forgets its own…. ! »

Abraham Nicolas COULERU (1716 –1812)
It was in 1746 that Abraham Nicolas Couleru returned to Montbéliard, after a stay of 7 years in Paris to learn cabinetmaking. (Montbéliard, then German says "Mômpelgard" and will return to France at the end of the 18th century)
In 1750, he was received by the master of the carpenters of Montbéliard.
His production, less numerous than that of JF Hache, mostly Louis XV style, is as diversified as that of his Parisian colleagues: dressers, sloping desks, secretaries, game tables, dressing tables…
It seems nevertheless that he favored the slope offices and became "the" specialist.
He is the cabinetmaker to the Duke of Wurtenberg.
Archival documents prove that he worked for the Court of Montbéliard The fame of Abraham Nicolas Color was very great and the Council of Regency mentions in 1769, that he held his furniture "for highly esteemed, both in the country as in the neighborhood […] both in Besançon, in Strasbourg and even up to Paris ”. L’email a bien été copié