A planter by Canabas

This planter is characteristic of Carabas' work. He indeed was a cabinetmaker famous for his taste for small and practical pieces of furniture, that often had an original shape.  Like most of his work, with a few exceptions, it is made of solid mahogany. The use of mahogany burl, the wood located at the level of a fork, which is the part of the trunk corresponding to the junction of two converging branches, makes it possible to make appear drawings in the shape of water spurts of a beautiful smoothness. The mahogany burl gives this piece of furniture its fine grain and soft tones.This planter is related to the Louis xvi style, but without dryness or excessive rigor. Elegant sobriety is the rule here, leaving only a few discreet moldings for decoration. The density and strength of mahogany did not allow it to be used, like other exotic woods, in marquetry. It was therefore used in solid or veneered form, which implied a certain restraint in the decoration, as shown in this planter. Bronzes are almost absent, as in most of Canabas' work.

Planters in the 18^th century

Planters appeared during the Renaissance, following the development of gardens which floral cultures had an essentially aesthetic goal, unlike in the Middle Ages, where gardens were mainly utilitarian. Omnipresent in the interiors through their representation in tapestries, silk fabrics or paintings, fresh flowers progressively gained grounds in homes. Appreciated for their colors, their scents and their infinite varieties, they also became real collector's items and sometimes unleashed passions, as in the 17^th century in the north of the United Provinces, where tulips led to the first "speculative bubble" in history. The use of bouquets spread and with it the desire to create ornamental and aesthetic floral compositions in and around the house, which were linked to the art of gardens. Somewhat neglected in the 17^th century, planters came back into fashion in the middle of the 18^th century, with the craze for green interiors, due to the characteristic enthusiasm of the time for nature. This one was perceived as essential to the moral balance of the man.

The flowers were then presented in a more flexible way and under a pleasant aspect, as testifies the corsage bouquet carried by the queen Marie-Antoinette on the portrait painted by Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun. The plant decorations were now made up of masses and arranged according to the architecture of the place and the furniture. The "potées" and flowering branches were assembled with small green plants, upright or drooping, in a planter. This latter was either mounted on a base like a table, or on a small pedestal. In this case, it was called a table planter, which could be placed in its center or on a side piece of furniture. Under Louis xvi, planters were filled with fresh flowers that replaced the porcelain flowers so popular under Louis xv. Most of these flowers were produced at the Sèvres factory from 1741on. Thus, to house fresh flowers, Louis xvi planters were often larger and with feet, while the planters under Louis xv were for the most part table planters, of reduced size, and most often in porcelain. There were also other models intended for the culture of plants in apartment, like the Dutch vases, the Mahon boxes or the onion fountains.

Planters, as light furniture, were more influenced by fashion than the big furniture. They were made as gifts and furnished the anterooms and reception rooms such as the dining room, which, under the influence of England, began to be used in French apartments. Canabas designed a large number of planters - round, oval or rectangular in shape, usually lined with sheet metal or metal tubs, and resting on feet with wide flutes. They matched perfectly with the other furniture he designed: Indeed, Canabas was one of the first to create furniture intended to be used during meals or meetings in the absence of servants, and which therefore had to be both solid and elegant.

Joseph Gengenbach called Canabas (1712-1797)

Figuring amongst the most important Parisian cabinetmakers of the second half of the 18^th century and considered as the greatest master of small furniture in mahogany, he was born in Germany in 1712. He made his apprenticeship in Paris, and married in 1745 Marie-Reine Parmentier, daughter of a peers, and established then rue de Charonne. He worked for a long time as an ouvrier privilégié for the account of prestigious cabinetmakers such as Jean-François Œben or Pierre Migeon. After having registered his Master the 1^st of April 1766, he settled his workshop grande rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine and developed rapidly his activity by composing a rich clientele and collaborating with great merchants such as Bonnemain the young and the brothers Presle. In 1769, at the moment of his wife’s death, the inventory after death mentions several screens, tables of all types and guéridons in mahogany while in 1797 the sale organized after the death of the cabinetmaker testifies for the prosperity of the workshop even during the Revolutionary troubles. Thus, were described “flap secretaries, chest of drawers, guéridons, flat desks, lack and gliders tables, bedside cylinder tables, consoles, Men and women toilet table, chiffonnières, desk armchairs and other objects, for the most part in plain mahogany, adorned with copper in the best taste”.

He was one of the rare Parisian cabinetmakers to pass safely, proof of his success, the gap of the Revolution, and continued to prosper under the Directory period until his death the 11^th of July 1797.

The fashion for mahogany in the 18^th century

Predominant in the French and English furniture of the 18^th century, mahogany is an exotic wood species, imported from Central America at the time. In the heart of triangular commerce, he was most often collected in the forests of Saint-Domingue and around the Carribean coast. For a long time ignored by the craftsmen, mahogany seems to have been adopted firstly in England as soon as the 17^th century. It was then the cabinetmakers of the principal ports of France which remarked its qualities. The cabinetmakers of the Court then took an interest: the inventory after death of Joseph Poitou (1680-1719) asserts of the use of this wood in his production. It was put in trend in 1753 by the marquise de Pompadour, who commissioned the marchand-mercier Duvaux “six chests of drawers à la grecque, in solid mohogany” for her château de Ménar, realized by Jean-François Œben. First principally reserved for furniture dedicated to the toilet or the dinner, it became, under Louis xvi’s reign, the noble wood by excellence and took the place, at the end of the century, of an ornament in itself: the bronzes were progressively lightened to leave the wood and its veins be the principal decor of furniture, like this planter shows.