1985.R.469.a-l, Box, Hennens and Bettridge, c. 1830-1860

During 19th-century Victorian era England, craftpersons made a wide range of furniture and objects that were decorated with dark lacquer, mother-of-pearl, and paint. Some of the furniture, especially that constructed of papier-mâché, was innovative in terms of its material and shape. The vogue for this decorative style lasted well into the mid-19th century. In 1860, for example, the two main centers of production in England, Birmingham and Wolverhampton, employed between 1,000 and 2,000 craftspersons making this line of furniture and related objects. 

The sizable group of 19th-century English papier-mâché furniture is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Reves furniture acquisitions. During the 1960s, when Wendy Reves was building the collection, the ornate Rococo Revival style was poorly regarded by collectors, so the collecting of such pieces was extremely avant-garde on the part of Reves. Working through galleries like La Boutique du Village in Paris and Stair & Co. in London, Reves gathered together more than twenty examples, most of which are now at the Dallas Museum of Art. The collection is especially noteworthy because of its wide variety of forms.

The fanciful Chinoiserie scene on the lid of this papier-mâché box depicts a lord seated under a canopy on a Rococo chaise lounge, smoking a long opium pipe and flanked by attendants that wear their hair in a queue, one of whom has scrolled-toe slippers. The box is fitted with five lidded interior compartments, the tops of which are inlaid with mother-of-pearl floral sprays.

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Provenance

Geography Xrefs - Place of Origin and Business Location

Published references

Until 1971: Redburn Antiques, London England [1]

1971: Emery Reves (1904-1983) purchased from Redburn Antiques, London, England, July 6, 1971 [1]

1971-1985: Emery Reves (1904-1983) and Wendy Reves (1916-2007) (owned jointly), La Pausa, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France [1] [2]

From 1985: Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, gift of Wendy Reves (1916-2007) [2]

[1] According to the following document found in the DMA object file: an original invoice from Redburn Antiques addressed to Emery Reves (July 6, 1971)

[2] According to: Olivier Meslay and Martha MacLeod, From Chanel to Reves (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2015), 4-5.

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