(b nr Cologne, c. 1691; d Paris, 4 Aug 1754). French cabinetmaker of German birth. He worked in Paris from 1721, and on 21 October 1738 he bought the warrant of Marchand Ebéniste privilégié du Roy suivant la Cour et Conseils de sa Majesté. His furniture was extremely well received both in France and abroad, where his main clients were Frederick II, King of Prussia, Frederick-Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, and Louis XV’s daughter Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma (1727–59). His marked work covers a period of about seventeen years, including two years of production (1754–6) under his widow. His work also includes a substantial proportion of clockcases. He worked rigidly and exclusively in the Louis XV style and was strongly influenced by the German Rococo. The only forms he used were curves and countercurves, and the bronze mounts, made specially for him, were extremely angular and combined putti and dragons with busts or masks of Classical gods and winged agraffe ornaments. He employed many different materials including tortoiseshell and brass marquetry (e.g. longcase clock, 1744; Cleveland, OH, Mus. A.), stained-horn for pedestal clocks (e.g. Moritzburg, Barockmus. Schloss Moritzburg), and, on various commodes, bois satiné veneering in a waved pattern (e.g. Malibu, CA, Getty Mus.), ‘natural’ floral marquetry (Rome, Pal. Quirinale) and panels of flowers in wood cut across the grain (e.g. commode, 1740–45; Lisbon, Mus. Gulbenkian). His most astonishing work was a pair of clockcases (destr.), made for the Elector of Saxony, in the form of palm trees with candelabra made almost entirely of gilt-bronze.

• Latz, Jean-Pierre
  • France, §VI, 3(iii): Furniture, 1716–93: Woods and techniques
  • France, §IX, 2(iii)(a): Base metalwork, 1600–1800: Gilt-bronze
  • Oeben, Jean-François