The J.P. Morgan Library, The Ultimate Bibliophile Christmas Gift

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 1st 2010 at 3:04AM

The Carlton Hobbs gallery in New York is displaying a unique set of furniture, a library that once belonged to J.P. Morgan. The library from the Hotel Gaulin in Dijon, France is attributed to Jerome Marlet and dates from circa 1770. The white and gilt set includes two breakfront bookcase cabinets; a white marble breakfront fire surround with fluted pilaster supports and several smaller pieces of panelling with original Parquet de Versailles oak flooring. The set was acquired in 1922 by J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. and presented by J.P. Morgan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1923. It was loaned to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art around 1950.

The library is on view at the Carlton Hobbs New York gallery, the former Vanderbilt mansion, located at 60 East 93rd Street in New York City it has a for sale price of $3.8 million.

Jérôme Marlet, the son of the sculptor Edmé Marlet, is considered to be one of the foremost artists specializing in neoclassical design to have worked in Dijon. His reputation was such that his work in Dijon was said to equal that of Rousseau the
Younger at Versailles. The sculpted motifs of the four over-doors are emblematic of Architecture, Painting, Music and Mathematics, and the theme of music is repeated on the paneled doors of the bookcases.The bookcases are unusual because they adopt the English breakfront form, while the placing of carved vases united by swags on top of each bookcase is a unique decorative device apparently without precedent in either England or France.

Next month Carlton Hobbs presents Inspired by Antiquity: Classical Influences on 18th and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art running from January 20 through February 14, 2011. The exhibit will feature 40 pieces inspired by antiquity, including the important group of Thomas Hope pieces from the Philip Hewat-Jaboor collection of Regency furniture and works of art, the single largest collection of Thomas Hope pieces to come onto the market since the Christie's auction of the contents of Deepdene, Hope's country estate, in 1917.

Tags: antique furniture, carlton hobbs gallery, french furniture, jerome marlet, jp morgan