Thomas COMPIGNÉ

Animated view of Twickenham on the Thames Gilded wood frame (small accidents and missing parts). 18th century. Height: 15 cm - Width: 20 cm (at sight) Frame: Height: 22 cm - Width: 26,5 cm COLLECTION OF TABLES BY COMPIGNÉ Privileged tablemaker of King Louis XV, COMPIGNÉ specialized in the manufacture of boxes, games of tric-trac, checkers, chess and snuffboxes. His name is still attached today to the relief paintings on pewter, the process of which is still mysterious. These works are executed on the lathe on a sheet of pewter stamped in relief on a matrix, then placed on a scale or cardboard support and decorated with gouache, gold, silver and colored varnish giving a precious charm. The most frequently represented subjects are landscapes with characters (views of Italy, Paris, ...), historical subjects, reproductions of paintings by famous painters such as Horace Vernet or views of castles. The production of COMPIGNÉ is characterized by a great quality of execution; his epigone Claude-Louis Chevalier probably trained in his workshop, received master in 1776, did not reach the same degree of perfection. Solicited by cabinetmakers and "merchant-merchants", these craftsmen frequently decorated small tables as attested by the example of the Doucet collection or the one preserved in the Museum of Ile-de-France in St Jean Cap Ferrat. Other examples of this technique are kept in Chantilly and in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris.