ACTIVE c. 1760-90
|
V |
ery little is known of Jean-Ferdinand Schwerd – feger. an ebeniste of German origin, other than that he settled in Paris before 1760 (when he was recorded as witness at the marriage of Stumpff, one of his fellow ebenistes). He did not become a master until 1786. and stamped very little of his work. The few known pieces by him must have formed a part of an exceptional ensemble executed or intended for Marie-Antoinette. It comprised the important jewel-cabinet ordered in 1787 by Bonnefoy-Duplan after drawings by Dugourc [518]. as well as the worktable and console in the Petit Trianon. These pieces, decorated with gilt-bronze basket work motifs, ornamented the ‘trellis bedroom’ of Marie-Antoinette at
the Petit Trianon, where they matched the clock (still in situ), the wall brackets (Gulbenkian Museum. Lisbon) and the polychrome furnishings by Jacob. The furnishings were probably intended to be completed with a very similar commode and secretaire now in Boston. The choice of Schwerdfeger to execute furniture of this importance makes one wonder if he had not become personal ebeniste to the Queen.
According to Salverte. Schwerdfeger worked from the rue Saint-Sebastien until at least 1798.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. de Salverte: Les Ebenistes, p. 303
/518/ Jewel-cabinet made by Schwerdfeger in і 787for Marie – Antoinette at Veruiilles; in mahogany encrusted with mother-of-pearl, Selves biscuit plaques imitating Wedgwood and gouaches under glass by Degault.
IM usee de Versailles)
basketworh motifs in gilt-bronze seem to harmonize with the furnishings in the Trellis Bedroom of Marie-Antoinette at the Petit Trianon. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Jean-]acques
