A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD, AMARANTH AND FRUITWOOD SECRETAIRE

Of German origin, François Reizell (maître in 1764) started his career in the quartier des ébénistes before leaving the Faubourg Saint Antoine for the rue des Saintes-Pres. Interestingly, the young ébéniste Joseph Baumhauer, dit Joseph (d. 1772) - later to become one of the foremost ébénistes of the Louis XV period - is recorded as having worked in Reizell's atelier. The latter's atelier counted amongst his famed patrons, Louis Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Condé (1736-1818) for whom Reizell produced a large number of pieces for the Palais-Bourbon and the château de Chantilly.