MASTER 1786
Born in Augsburg, Schneider settled in Paris at an unknown date; in the 1780s he was working as an independent artisan in the rue du Fau- bourg-Saint-Antoine. Under the name of Gaspard he supplied the Garde-Meuble Royal in October 1785 with a ‘veneered secretaire 47г pieds in length, the same proportions as one made by M. Riesener, well made, with matt gilt mounts by Thomire, the whole manufactured in good order 820L’. Shortly after Carlin’s death he married his widow, Marie-Catherine Oeben. The marriage-contract indicates that Schneider enjoyed a certain affluence at that time. He took over Carlin’s workshop, became a master on 15 March 1786, and produced or modified porcelain, mahogany and ebony pieces in the style of Carlin for Daguerre. The Revolution ruined him; he was obliged to close his business, and moved to rue Beautreillis, where his wife died on 16 December 1799. Schneider was described in 1806 as insolvent.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. de Salverte: Les Ebenistes. pp. 301, 302.
David Cohen: ‘Four tables gueridons by Sevres’. Antologia di Belle Arti, nos 13-14, 1980, pp. 1-11
(516 aboveI Jewel-cabinet stamped by Schneider, the porcelain plaques dated 1778. Similarities existing between its upper section – very much in the style of Carlin – and a drawing in the Saxe-Teschen album (see pp. 5 and 39) would suggest that the piece was intended for the Duchesse de Saxe-Teschen. (Christie’s New York, 19 November 1977, lot 123)
Jean-Ferdinand
