Henry Dasson

HENRY DASSON (Paris, 1825- Saint-Germain en Laye, 1896).
Louis XVI style commode, 1880.
Mahogany wood, gilded bronze and marble top.
It retains key and has slight flaws and restoration on the marble top.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 95 x 153 x 55 cm.
This splendid chest of drawers, signed by Henry Dasson, reflects with mastery the refined historicist taste of Parisian furniture of the late 19th century. Inspired by Louis XVI style models, the piece combines the structural sobriety of mahogany with an ornamentation of exceptional quality in gilded bronze, where garlands, laurel leaves and rosettes are arranged with an almost sculptural precision. The marble top, with its soft veins, adds a touch of distinction that enhances the compositional balance of the whole.
Dasson, renowned for his technical rigor and his fidelity to the canons of 18th century furniture, achieves in this work a perfect synthesis between classical elegance and craftsmanship excellence, consolidating his reputation as one of the most virtuoso cabinetmakers of French high decoration of his time.
Henry Dasson was one of the most acclaimed bronze and cabinetmakers of the second half of the 19th century. Author of ornamental works and furniture of great quality, always within a historicist style, he also made singular works such as the tomb of Adélaïde Louis Jeanne Victoire Herbemont, in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, cast by him and designed by the sculptor Léopold Morice. Dasson showed his works in various exhibitions of the time, being always awarded and highly valued by critics. His participation in the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1878, where he was congratulated by prominent figures of the time such as Louis Gonse, is especially noteworthy. He was later awarded the Grand Prix Artistique, among other prizes, and was named knight of the French Legion of Honor. For the realization of his pieces, Dasson was interested in the works of art of the past, especially those of the time of Louis XVI, the time of development of French neoclassicism. His ornamental vases, furniture and lighting pieces were in great demand at the time, both by the French clientele and in the rest of the world. Active in Paris, he made not only historicist pieces, inspired by the works of the 17th and 18th centuries, but also reproductions of the furniture of the courts of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. His works are always characterized by the high quality of their execution, and his extraordinary mercury-gilded bronzes are particularly noteworthy in this regard. Dasson was a more than worthy continuator of Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, whose business he acquired after the latter's death in 1870. Even earlier in his early career, he had won the favor and recognition of the French aristocracy as a cabinetmaker, and in fact was the personal cabinetmaker to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. Like many others, the empress was impressed by Dasson's skill and refinement, and commissioned a large number of pieces for the decoration of her royal residences. She also counted among her clients the British royal family. Dasson's works are now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, among other notable public and private collections.