Gabriel Viardot

Cabinetmaker (1830–1906)

A Parisian cabinetmaker, Gabriel Viardot (1830–1906) is one of the preeminent figures of Japonism in French furniture. Beginning his career as a woodcarver in 1849, he initially crafted small salon pieces before turning, around 1860, toward designs inspired by China and Japan, establishing himself as the acknowledged master of the genre. His creations marry European construction with ornamentation drawn from the Far East: dragons, cranes, tortoises, geometric fretwork, lacquer panels, and mother-of-pearl inlays. Acclaim was immediate. Viardot was awarded four medals at the Exposition Universelle of 1867, a silver medal in 1878, and gold medals in Antwerp in 1884 as well as at the Paris Expositions Universelles of 1889 and 1900. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur. Select models were retailed by the celebrated Parisian maison L'Escalier de Cristal. Among his distinguished patrons was Georges Clemenceau, an avid connoisseur of Japanese art.