Regency Chest of Drawers attributed to Pierre Moulin, 1720

Chest of drawers in violet wood, the curved front opening to five drawers in three rows, the top in red marble from Flanders resting on rounded fluted uprights, beautiful ormolu ornamentation. The PM iron remains a mystery for the time being: we can think of at least three cabinetmakers whose initials correspond to these two letters. The first, Pierre Moulin, qualified as a cabinetmaker in Paris, was living in Grande-rue-du-Faubourg-Saint-Antoine in 1710, when he married Jeanne Mainguet on November 6. He was the son of the late Pierre Moulin, painter and varnisher, and Geneviève Alexandre, who had married François Painsun, also a cabinetmaker, in a second marriage, and who had apprenticed him on July 28, 1700, to Bernard Van Risen Burgh, another great cabinetmaker of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The second could be Pierre III Migeon (1665-c. 1717/1719); finally, the third could be his son, Pierre IV Migeon (1696-1758), who acquired his master’s degree around 1721 and went on to become one of the most important cabinetmakers in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. It should be noted, however, that we only know the full stamp of two Migeons, hence our attribution to Pierre Moulin. Provenance: Château de Vidouze then Château de Beaulieu.