Gervais-Maximilien-Eugène Durand
1839 - 1920
A French mahogany and gilt-bronze mounted Louis XVI style bureau plat (desk) by
Gervais Durand, circa 1880
surmounted by a rectangular gilt-tooled black leather writing surface and quartered panels of foliate marquetry and fitted with three frieze drawers,the centermost drawer with a projecting floral marquetry panel, the reverse with false drawers, the sides and reverse also with a projecting inlaid panel, further decorated with ormolu mounts and a border of ribbon-tied reeds, the straight tapering legs headed by ormolu bow-tied foliage, and ending in paw feet,stamped to the underside 'G. DURAND
Dimensions
56 inches wide, 27 1/4 inches deep, 29 1/4 inches high
CATALOGUE NOTE
This bureau plat, which is of the very best quality, is a testament to the output of Maison Durand and its founder Gervais-Maximilien-Eugéne Durand (born in 1839). He established his successful firm in 1870 at 12 rue de La Cerisaie later moving to the more fashionable rue St. Antoine where most of the prestigious cabinetmakers of the time had their workshops. Gervais was the first of three successful generations. Durand produced almost exclusively superb copies of 18th century furniture of which this is undoubtedly an example.
Gervais-Maximilien-Eugène Durand established the Maison Durand firm in 1870, producing top quality eighteenth-century style furniture. The business triumphed when the firm participated in the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, obtaining a silver medal and commended as 'un ébénistes aussi habile que modeste, qui expose pour la première fois les meubles de premier ordre, dont il est à la fois le déssinateur et l'exécutant; il marche sur la voie tracée par les maîtres tel que Beurdeley et Dasson.' In 1890, when Durand's son Frédéric-Louis joined the firm, the name was changed to Durand & Fils. The firm was located at 12 Rue de la Cerisaie, Paris, but subsequently moved in 1900 to 62, Rue Saint-Antoine, previously the hotel de Sully.