The Exceptional Sale
Adam Weisweiler was a French ebenist (cabinetmaker) who was active in Paris during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was known for his elegant and innovative furniture designs, which incorporated classical motifs, fine marquetry, and exquisite ormolu mounts.
Weisweiler was initially trained as a sculptor. He later moved to Paris, where he began working as a cabinetmaker, specializing in the production of high-end furniture for the French court and aristocracy. He worked in partnership with the bronzier (bronze caster) Pierre Gouthière and supplied furniture to the royal châteaux of Versailles, Fontainebleau, and Saint-Cloud, as well as to other wealthy clients.
Weisweiler's furniture designs were characterized by their graceful forms, delicate ornamentation, and use of luxurious materials. He often incorporated exotic woods, such as amboyna and kingwood, and created intricate marquetry patterns using a variety of woods, metals, and other materials. He also collaborated with the finest bronze craftsmen of his time, such as Gouthière and Thomire, to produce elaborate ormolu mounts that added further elegance and refinement to his furniture.
Today, Weisweiler's furniture is highly prized by collectors and museums around the world. His pieces are considered to be some of the finest examples of French Neoclassical furniture, and they are admired for their beauty, craftsmanship, and historical significance.
Pierre-Philippe Thomire a French sculptor, was the most prominent bronzier, or producer of ornamental patinated and gilt-bronze objects and furniture mounts of the First French Empire. His fashionable neoclassical and Empire style furnishing bronzes (bronzes d'ameublement) established the highest standard in refined finish in the craft that the French called that of the fondeur-ciseleur, "founder-finisher".
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full name Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was an Austrian composer and virtuoso musician. Mozart is one of the greatest composers in music history on par with Beethoven and Haydn.
Wolfgang was born into the family of violinist and composer Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), at the age of five he had already begun composing and gave his first public performance. His older sister Maria Anna (1751-1829) was also a prodigy, and from 1763 Leopold and his children began traveling around Europe with performances.
Mozart had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and was a superb improviser. Unlike any other composer in music history, he was versatile and wrote in all musical genres of his time. During his short life, Mozart composed more than 800 works, many of which are recognized as the pinnacle of the symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral repertoire. The general public is familiar with the composer's three operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.
Society did not immediately appreciate the scale of Mozart's genius. It was only many years later that the vivid image of a prodigy, a refined salon composer who could miraculously think through an entire work in his head, gave way to the image of a serious, meticulous and brilliant creator of music.
Jean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben, was a German ébéniste (cabinetmaker) whose career was spent in Paris. He was the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix.
John Henry Borrell was a famous English watch- and clockmaker from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Borrell produced both pocket and table clocks. His workshop was located at 15 Wilderness Row in London from 1795 to 1840.
