Lazare Duvaux
Encyclopedia
Lazare Duvaux was a Parisian marchand-mercier
, among the most prominent designers and purveyors of furnishings, gilt-bronze-mounted European and Chinese porcelains, Vincennes porcelain
and later Sèvres porcelain and all the small, refined luxuries that appealed to Mme de Pompadour, one of his most prominent clients, who entrusted the furnishing of her many château
x to Duvaux. Lazare Duvaux was retrieved from posthumous obscurity when his daybook covering the decade 1748-1758 was published in 1873; it remains a central document of the decorative arts of the mid-18th century.
Established in trade by 1740, he was already a marchand suivant le Cour by 1747, when he figured, as "sieur Devos, marchand-orfévre", and supplying gold boxes, among the suppliers of the king's gift of jewels to thenew Dauphine for her marriage to the Dauphin. He moved his shop from the rue de la Monnaie in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois to the fashionable rue Saint-Honoré, the center of Parisian commerce in works of art and what the French called la curiosité.
Marchand-mercier
A marchand-mercier is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of a corporation under rules codified in 1613.. The reduplicative term literally means a merchant of merchandise, but in the 18th century took...
, among the most prominent designers and purveyors of furnishings, gilt-bronze-mounted European and Chinese porcelains, Vincennes porcelain
Vincennes porcelain
The Vincennes porcelain manufactory was established in 1740 in the disused royal Château de Vincennes, in Vincennes, east of Paris, which was from the start the main market for its wares.-History:...
and later Sèvres porcelain and all the small, refined luxuries that appealed to Mme de Pompadour, one of his most prominent clients, who entrusted the furnishing of her many château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
x to Duvaux. Lazare Duvaux was retrieved from posthumous obscurity when his daybook covering the decade 1748-1758 was published in 1873; it remains a central document of the decorative arts of the mid-18th century.
Established in trade by 1740, he was already a marchand suivant le Cour by 1747, when he figured, as "sieur Devos, marchand-orfévre", and supplying gold boxes, among the suppliers of the king's gift of jewels to thenew Dauphine for her marriage to the Dauphin. He moved his shop from the rue de la Monnaie in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois to the fashionable rue Saint-Honoré, the center of Parisian commerce in works of art and what the French called la curiosité.