Monika Kopplin, Selected works from the Museum für Lackkunst Münster, Munich 2010, p. 87

This panel shows an impressively set oriental scene, w🌱ith a young princess being carried in a palanquin by four Chinese servants. They are descending a short flight of stairs, at the end of which is depicted another figure in Kowtow, with two further men kneeling at his sides. The scenery is enclosed by an obelisk in the foregro﷽und, on the right-hand side, and a vase on pediment in the background on the left-hand side. Looking more thoroughly, one can see a high fir tree emerging from the darkness, the whole scenery lined with a trellis, indicating a garden.

The dominating colour in the foreground is gold in different shades, making the scenery emerge dramatically from the dark. The atmosphere is pleasant, due to the childlike character of the princess and the devoted looks of her coolies. Likewise, the sharp swords in the belt of the man in Kowtow and the deep darkness evoke a potentially threatening element, mastered by the enlight💞ened princess.

The gold in the clothing, the obelisk and the canopy is not applied plainly but in a structured, marbled manner, unknown to far eastern lacquer-art or its western imitations, where gold would rather be applied plain 🐈(gold leaf) or transparent to a certain degree (gold dust), but always homogeneous. The structure in the golden parts of the panel evokes a more vivid expression. Yet these parts contrast effectively with the smoothly painted flesh. This gilding might be done in shell-gold or with flakes of leaꦆf gold. For both techniques there are parallels with the French tradition of Vernis Martin.

Further technical peculiarities are the application of mother of pearl inlays (swords, bars and canopy of the palanquin, agrafe and the trophies of the obelisk) and of fret patterns worked in thin metal (obelisk). Inlays are quite common with Vernis Martin, but less with imitations of far eastern lacquer beyond France; the use of metal inlays is unusual with any lacquer-tradition, but at least one comparable object can be traced from the Paris artists common with Vernis Martin: a tabatière of solid mother of pearl, inlaid with an ornamental fram𝓡ewor🌠k of lozenges with interlaced flowers, 1747 (Kopplin, 2010, p. 180).

Finally, the panel shows a quite unique technical item: the application of ground mother of pearl scat༒tered on the floor of the scenery. This reminds one of powdered𓄧 metal dust of different size in aventurine lacquer, again very common in Vernis Martin.

The composition is very close to designs for Chinese scenes by French painters such as François Boucher or Jean-Baptiste Pillement, designs which amalgamated the carefree elegant world of the rococo with the mysterious far Eastern imagery and which spread throughout Europe. In applied arts, lacquer-work ha🙈s no special predilection for this French style of rococo-chinoiserie and when it does, it tends to use bright colours and background.

Comparing the pan♔el with other European lacquer-traditions, a similar delicacy is rarely reached. A close piece of comparison regarding style and naturalism is the paneling of the lacquer-cabinet in the Ludwigsburg palace, Baden-Württemberg, by Johann Jakob Sänger (1714-1722), although here the lack of figural elements forbids the attempt of an ascription. Most other German lacquer-paneled rooms are clearly more naïve.

The master of the panel must have derived from a high standing tradition. The place with by far the largest number of lacquer-artists in the 18th century was Paris. Another place reaching a similarly high quality was Spa in Belgium, though smaller in production and less constant in standard. Two technical items of the panel support the assumption of its origin in Paris: the labels on the back. An oval one from probably the second half of the 19th century with “Emballeur Pape 5, Rue de la Terrasse, Paris” written on it, proving that it was in Paris in this time, the other one, square, cut by hand and damaged, has handwritten: “Panneau Femme dans un Balanquin” with numbers. The writing could well be from the 18th century, and the paper is thoroughly worn. This label also indicates that the panel was regarded as a tableau, probably as part of a collection. The ancient lining with rough fabric on the backside also suggests, that the panel has never been reduced in size, i.e., it was not part of a boiserie – confirmed by the front, as the composition is complete and fills its𓂃 size ✤well.

There is an interesting coincidence of theme with one of the prominent fields of activity of the Vernis Martin workshops: decorating coaches and sedan chairs (fig. 1). The representation might allude to the domain linked to the luxurious technique. The large number of lacquer-workshops active in the luxury-sector in Paris makes it difficult to ascribe the panel to an individual. Most accessible pieces of comparable style and quality are bijoux, of smaller scale, but this tradition is what the panel comes cl🤪osest to. Equally difficult is the dating: the thi♌rd quarter of the 18th century seems probable.

Dr. Sybe Wartena, München