Riesener was court cabinetmaker for over ten years, supplying over 700 pieces to the French royal household. The details of these commissions were recorded in the Journal of the Garde-Meuble (the department of the royal household responsible for ordering and managing furnishings), as well as Riesener’s mémoires. These were invoices which contained detailed descriptions of the furniture, as well as the materials and techniques used to make them.

Many of Riesener’s invoices survive and can be found in the collections of the Archives nationales and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Our final talk in the series will explore a selection of invoices for pieces of royal furniture at Waddesdon Manor and the Royal Collection. They will tell us more about Riesener’s design and workshop processes, as well as the challenges he encountered during exceptionally ambitious projects.

The Wallace Collection is delighted to present this talk as part of a series of three evening talks on Riesener, in collaboration with the Furniture History Society.

For a 2021 exhibition on Riesener at Waddesdon Manor please see:

https://waddesdon.org.uk/whats-on/riesener-furniture-and-the-rothschilds/

Publication: 'Jean-Henri Riesener: Cabinetmaker to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette' (Hardback) 

https://wallacecollectionshop.org/collections/books/products/jean-henri-riesener-cabinetmaker-to-louis-xvi-and-marie-antoinette-hardback

For more information on the Royal Collection Trust Riesener trail: https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/Trails/jean-henri-riesener