17TH CENTURY FRENCH WALNUT CASE BEARING AN INSCRIPTION POUSSIN NICOLAS / ANDELYS 1622 |

Extérieur : L’extérieur est en bois de noyer avec une patine brune due à l’âge et au toucher. Quelques petits trous de ver sont visibles et ont été en partie rebouchés, notamment sur la façade. Il y a une très légère fissure sur le haut du couvercle. Sur le couvercle, côté droit, on remarque un soulèvement du placage qui est en partie restauré (restauration ancienne). En dessous, on note deux enfoncements. Sur le côté gauche, il n’y a rien à signaler. À l’arrière, l’on voit une légère décoloration, des griffures et des taches. Divers petits éclats sur les arêtes. Trois enfoncements sur le côté droit dont un plus marqué. Les ferrures sont usées et sales et présentent des traces d’oxydation. La ferrure centrale du couvercle présente un léger soulèvement. La signature est légèrement en creux et est gravée dans le noyer. Intérieur : La structure est en noyer et l’intérieur est en bois blanc et tendre avec des tâches (probablement d’encre). On remarque des traces de brûlure dans le coin intérieur droit du couvercle. Petit éclat et manque sur certaines traverses intérieures. Les deux petites boîtes amovibles sont en bon état. Le grand tiroir central est garni de papier peint marbré avec quelques déchirures et manques. La prise est rapportée. Les petits tiroirs latéraux sont en bon état de conservation. Il y a des prises rapportées sur les deux façades. Le tiroir inférieur présente un papier extrêmement tâché et usé. Il manque un élément de séparation horizontale. L’entablement inférieur est en noyer et est probablement postérieur. La fermeture et la clef fonctionnent. L’état global de la boîte est correct et au regard de l’ancienneté de cet objet, qui est en outre utilitaire, tout à fait normal. Elle porte les traces et les marques d’une utilisation avérée. Exterior: The exterior of the casket is made of walnut tree wood with has a brown patina due to aging and touching. Some tiny worm holes can be seen which have been partially patched up, especially on the front. We can see a very tiny crack in the top of the cover. On the right side of the cover there is a wood veneer uplift which has been partially restored (old restoration). Below two indentations can be seen. On the left side of the casket, there is nothing to report. On the back there is a slight discolouration, some scratches and spots as well as several minor chips on the edges. Three indentations on the right side with one of them a bit bigger. The mountings are torn and dirty and show some traces of oxidation. The cover’s main mounting shows a small uplift. The signature is lightly incised into the walnut wood. Interior: The structure is made of walnut tree wood and the interior is made of white softwood with some spots (probably ink). We notice some traces of what appears to be traces of burning(?) on the interior top right corner. Small chips and losses on several inner crossbars. The two small removable boxes are well preserved. The main central drawer is lined with a marble wallpaper with some tears and losses. The plug has been added a later stage. The small lateral drawers are well preserved. We notice added plugs on the two facades. The lower drawer is lined with a very damaged wallpaper (spots and signs of wear). A horizontal crossbar is missing. The lower entablature is made of walnut tree and is probably a later addition. The lock and the key are fully functional. The global state of conservation is fair and with regards to the age of the box, and because it was an utilitarian object is totally normal. It bears spots and traces of a proven use.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

With a walnut-veneered pine body, this charming casket with beautifully worked wrought-iron mounts bears an astonishing inscription: 'Poussin Nicolas / 1622 Andelys'. When opened, the object presents itself as a lovely small cabinet, a sort of paint-box in which a painter could easily organise all of his materials in the six drawers and twelve compartments and transport them without being overburdened. Nicolas Poussin (Les Andelys 1594–1665 Rome) planned to travel to Italy in 1622 but stopped along the way in Lyon in order to honour some debts. We know this because on 12 March 1622 he signed a tenancy agreement, with two companions, for rooms in a house in the rue Désirée [1]. He only departed for Rome, where he achieved success, in 1624. In the meantime, he made a brief return to Paris to execute two paintings for the Jesuit convent celebrating their patron saints, St Francis Xavier and St Ignatius Loyola, both of which have since been destroyed. In Paris, he stayed in the Latin Quarter where he met a fellow artist, Philippe de Champaigne. These frequent moves made it necessary for him to be able to easily transport his materials.

However, the year 1622 is little documented in the artist's biography as there are few historical sources, not least because Poussin relayed to his later biographers – Félibien Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1672) and Giovanni Battista Passeri (1672-74) – a romanticised version of his beginnings, thus inventing an endlessly repeated legend which must be treated with caution [2], that of the artist who arrived in Rome without a penny to his name. Given that at the time he was not yet raking in vast sums, and that the object, although restrained, is rather pretty, it is imaginable that the casket may have been a gift from his Lyonnais patron, Silvio I Reynon (circa 1595-1666) [3].

The inscribed date is early in the painter's career and it was thought until recently that Poussin had been content to paint a few canvases in Paris and that his artistic development was only brought to fruition following his arrival in Rome. However, two canvases newly attributed to him date from this very period. The first, The death of Chione, is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (oil on canvas, 109.5 x 159.5 cm) and the second, The Death of the Virgin, remains in Sterrebeek, in Belgium (oil on canvas, 203 x 138 cm, church of St Pancras). The Death of Chione, also known as Diana slaying Chione, is the artist's 'first true masterpiece' before he settled in Rome in 1624 [4]. From then onwards, at the date indicated on the box (1622), Poussin was already active as a painter.

The inscription 'Andelys' recalls the artist's birthplace, since he was born in the hamlet of Villers, in the municipality of Les Andelys, today situated in the Eure department in Normandie. Is it an inscription intended to remind him of his origins? Or is it instead an indication of the origins of the box itself? To this date, it seems imprudent to make a definitive pronouncement on this question. The box has been made from several different materials: walnut for the exterior, pine for the veneered areas and oak for the internal structure. None of these contradicts the theory that this paint box was made in the seventeenth century. Subtle details confirm the box's usage, such as the inscription on a drawer, which reads 'peinture' [paint]. Moreover, some of the drawers are lined with paper used during this period. One can well imagine the artist storing in one of them his metal stylus with which he placed his sketch on an imprimatura, such as the one seen in his self-portrait in Berlin.

This object seems to offer a moving testimony as a probable possession of Nicolas Poussin, one of the leading French artists of the seventeenth century, an eminent figure of classicism. [1] H. Pommier, « Tombeau de Silvio Reynon. Les Reynon à Lyon et l’abbaye royale de Saint-Pierre », Poussin et Lyon, Lyon, 2016, p. 36.

[2] P. Rosenberg, « Poussin et Lyon. La Mort de Chioné, dit aussi Diane tuant Chioné», Poussin et Lyon, Lyon, 2016, p. 35.

[3] Voir H. Pommier, op. cit., pp 35 et s.

[4] P. Rosenberg, op. cit., p. 15.