Lot 121: GERVAIS-MAXIMILIEN-EUGENE DURAND B. 1839 A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED AND BROWN STAINED TORTOISESHELL INLAID EBONIZED BOULLE MARQUETRY INSTRUMENTS PARIS, CIRCA 1865

GERVAIS-MAXIMILIEN-EUGENE DURAND B. 1839 A PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED AND BROWN STAINED TORTOISESHELL INLAID EBONIZED BOULLE MARQUETRY INSTRUMENTS PARIS, CIRCA 1865 one a thermometer and the other a barometer, the thermometer stamped G. DURAND to the back height 44 in.; width 6 in. 111.5 cm; 15 cm

Durand was born in Paris on 30th July 1839 and began work in 1870 at 12 rue de La Cerisaie. He later moved to the more fashionable rue St. Antoine. He was the first of three generations of highly sucessful cabinet makers, exhibiting widely at the International Exhibitions. At the 1889 Exhibition in Paris, he was commended as, "un ébéniste aussi habile que modeste, qui expose pour la premième fois des meubles de premier ordre, dont il est à la fois le dessinateur et l'exécutant; il marche sur la voie tracée par les maîtres tels que Beurdeley et Dasson."