Marchand-Mercier
Marchand-Mercier was the name for the Parisian dealers who sold furniture and fittings of all kinds in the 18th and 19th centuries and worked as interior decorators with cabinet makers . They are said to have had a great influence on the stylistic development and decorative equipment of furniture of this time. An example of this is the Bonheur du jour , which came into fashion in the 1860s . Important Parisian traders were for example Darnault, Poirier and Hébert.
Said traders did not belong to any guild, since it was forbidden in Paris since the Middle Ages to carry out manual activities outside of a learned profession. Only a Marchand-Mercier could therefore provide Chinese porcelain with bronze handles and frames and attach Japanese lacquer panels and plates made of Sèvres porcelain to furniture or decorate them with opulent gold bronze . Certain cabinet makers also worked outside the guild system with a royal license or due to a lack of French citizenship.
literature
- Christoph Graf von Pfeil (arr.): The furniture of the Ansbach residence . Prestel, Munich / London / New York 1999, ISBN 3-79132-078-5 .
- Carolyn Sargentson: Merchants and Luxury Markets - The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century Paris. V & A Publications, 1997, ISBN 1-85177-176-X , ISBN 978-1-85177-176-9 .