c. 1730-90: MASTER 1705
According to Salverte, Pierre Pioniez appeared in about 1758 as a privileged artisan in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. and moved, after he became a master in 1765, to a workshop in the rue Michel-le-Comte in the Marais where he would remain for the rest of his life. The majority of furniture bearing his stamp is in Transitional style, commodes and tables of rectangular form with cabriole legs. On certain tables and bonheurs-du-jour a type of scroll-topped leg is found which would seem characteristic of Pioniez’s work. The marquetry often consists of pictorial motifs such as vases and utensils in chinoiserie taste deriving from motifs on Coromandel lacquer screens. The same marquetry is found on pieces by his brother-in-law Vandercruse (R. V. L. C.) and Topino, so much so that one wonders if all three used the same marquetry-maker, or if Topino perhaps made these marquetry panels for his colleagues.
Salverte cites other ebenistes with the name of Pioniez. of which one. Louis-Michel. is recorded in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in 1786, and another (perhaps the same one) is mentioned in 1797 after his death as ‘Pioniez the Elder’ at the sale of his furniture, mounts, mirrors and marbles. The last-mentioned was described as eb^niste, rue Grenier-Lazare. no. 685’ and was the father of two ebenistes still working under the Empire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. de Salverte: Les Ebenistes. pp. 264-65
(3661 Bonheur-du-jour stamped Pioniez, с. 1775; the marquetry with Chinese vases and other ware is identical to that of Topino, who was known
Jacques /
