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Joubert, Gilles
(b Paris, 1689; d Paris, 14 Oct 1775). French cabinetmaker. He was a member of a Parisian family of menuisiers and became a maître-ébéniste sometime between 1714 and 1722. After the death of Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus (1751) he became the main supplier to the Crown for 23 years and carried out commissions for 4000 pieces of furniture. Only a few, however, were masterpieces, produced either by Joubert or under his supervision. In 1758 he received the title of Ebéniste Ordinaire du Garde Meuble and in 1763, on the death of Jean-François Oeben, he became Ebéniste du Roi. Gradually, however, his position was taken over by Jean-Henri Riesener. Joubert acted to some extent as a main contractor, and when his workshop could not fulfil commissions he subcontracted to such cabinetmakers as Mathieu Criard, Marchand, Jacques Dubois, François Mondon (1694–1770), Boudin, Foullet, Louis Péridiez (1731–64), Deloose, Simon Oeben (d 1786) and particularly, during his final years of work, to Roger Vandercruse. Joubert did not sign his furniture; the few pieces that have been attributed to him indicate that he progressed smoothly from the symmetrical Louis XV to the Neo-classical style. This is particularly evident in the red, lacquered writing-table (c. 1759; New York, Met.; see LACQUER, colour pl. I, fig. 2) for Louis XV, a formerly lacquered lean-to secrétaire (Louisville, KY, Speed A. Mus.), a pair of clock pedestals (London, Buckingham Pal., Royal Col.) from Louis XV’s bedchamber at Versailles and a commode (1769; Malibu, CA, Getty Mus.) made for Princess Louise (1737–87).
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