Original furniture design from the factory of Maison Schmit, France
Date: c.1890
Watercolour and graphite on paper. Size of sheet: 30.3 x 40 cm. Factory blind stamp top left. Signed with monogram ‘P.S.’ lower right.
Provenance: from the Robert Barley Collection.
Design for Henry II Style Buffet, Decorated with Architectural-Style Motifs
Famous furniture factory Maison Schmit was founded by Frédéric Schmit in 1818 in Paris, France.
Born in Luxembourg, Schmit became one of the great Parisian cabinet makers, specialized in producing high quality furnishings and meubles de fantasie based on beautiful furniture designs developed either by himself or artists working for Schmit.
Throughout his career Schmit appears to have kept workshops on the rue de Charonne in the centre of the furniture-making district, the Faubourg St Antoine. He received Gold Medals at the 1878 and 1889 Expositions Universelles in Paris, and was always considered to make pieces of the finest quality.