This chest of drawers bears the marks of both Delorme and Roussel.The manufacturer of a piece would stamp it and the dealer, who might also be a cabinetmaker, would sometimes add his own stamp too.

The difficulty in attributing the role of each party here lies in the fact that their pieces are exactly contemporaneous (Roussel became a master craftsman in 1745 and Delorme in 1748) and both craftsmen used floral marquetry and were in the furniture trade. However, this piece of furniture belongs to a series of seven, several of which bear Delorme’s stamp, suggesting that he might have been the designer and Roussel the craftsman.

Adrien Delorme (who became a master craftsman in 1748 and remained active until 1783) made Chinese lacquerwork furniture in the high rocaille style and created floral marquetry on a background of alternating dark and light chevrons. Pierre Roussel (1723-1782) worked for Migeon and was active almost right up to his death with important duties in the guild of cabinetmakers. Unlike Delorme, his work was very varied and covered all 18th century styles from rocaille to neo-classicism, including transition. He created geometric marquetry with flowers in light woods and knotted ribbons and also landscapes with architecture. Dark wood surrounds often followed the contours of the bronze work.

City of Paris municipal collection's website

City of Paris municipal collection's website

The collections portal can be used to search the collections of Paris’s 14 municipal museums (approximately 336,000 works, including 43,000 belonging to the Petit Palais).

It is also possible to download around 12,000 images of the museum’s works free of charge.

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Discover a selection of databases online presenting works from the Petit Palais or documents concerning the history of the museum.