CRIAERD, Matthieu - b. ~1689 Bruxelles, d. 1776 Paris

French cabinet-maker of Flemish origin who specialized in Louis XV style furniture embellished with geometric and floral marquetry or with oriental lacquer framed with Rococo mounts.

Criaerd worked independently before becoming a maitre-ébéniste on 29 July 1738. He mainly worked for the Garde Meuble de la Couronne, through his colleagues Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus, Gilles Joubert and Jean-Francoi Oeben and through such dealers as Hébert. His extant works, stamped with his mark M CRIAERD, include luxurious furniture, in general characterized by very turbulent forms and exuberant, fantastic decoration. Chequered marquetry or, more rarely, floral marquetry was used, as well as some varnished panels, either imitating Chinese lacquer or in vernis Martin with European decoration. In particular, he made beautiful commodes, including one (Versailles, Chatea) for the Dauphin’s Cabinet de Retraite, which is typical of his work, as is the commode (Paris, Louvre) decorated with blue and silvered-bronze birds made for Madame de Mailly.

Commode Painted in Vernis Martin

The ensemble of this chest of drawers is decorated with flowers and animals in orientalising taste, painted in blue and white by a Parisian varnisher. He probably sought to imitate oriental lacquers, used in veneering since the early 1730s by Parisian cabinetmakers, but perhaps also the appearance of blue and white Ming Dynasty porcelain from China, still highly appreciated by Europeans in the eighteenth century.

This commode and two corner-cupboards that went with it were to be placed in the blue room of Madame de Mailly, then the mistress of Louis XV, at the château of Choisy.