WEBVTT 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:13.200 As we all know, Mélanie, the health crisis has not spared the art 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:16.800 market, forcing gallery owners and antique dealers to reinvent themselves. This is 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.279 the case of a Parisian gallery that you are going to introduce us to today, and which 00:00:20.279 --> 00:00:24.960 opens to first-time collectors. That is, it’s opening up 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:28.359 its field a little, as we’re talking this morning about a very important 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:33.160 Parisian gallery, Damien. It’s the Galerie Léage, which specializes 00:00:33.160 --> 00:00:37.640 in exceptional furniture and objets d’art from the 18th century. So we’re really 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:40.800 at the very top end of the market and, most of its collections are 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:44.680 today in museums or with major collectors. At the head of this gallery is 00:00:44.680 --> 00:00:48.520 Guillaume Léage, 29, who took over the family business a few years ago. 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:53.600 And although he belongs to the greatest, Guillaume has decided to adapt 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:59.160 to this period of health crisis by going digital. 00:00:59.160 --> 00:01:03.039 Because that’s what so many are doing. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:07.759 Many antique dealers go digital, and he has launched a new collection. 00:01:07.759 --> 00:01:11.640 Of objects a little more accessible than what he usually sells in the gallery. 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:15.119 And these are objects that can only be bought on the Internet. So he created 00:01:15.119 --> 00:01:19.280 a 100% digital tool for this, called Young Collectors, and 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.240 it’s aimed at young collectors, because the idea 00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:27.280 is to offer slightly more attractive prices to start a collection. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:32.320 But we still remain, Damien, in the top-of-the-range and 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:36.680 high quality. There’s always the exceptional quality of the 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:40.280 gallery. So there’s nothing to prevent well-informed collectors from 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.000 snapping it up too. So everything is 18th century. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.799 Exactly, that’s really the speciality of this gallery. 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:54.759 Look, we’ve met Guillaume Léage. 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:04.960 A collection is made on the spur of the moment. So you travel, you visit, you get 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:09.039 information, and your eye will be trained more or less depending on the object. And in this 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:14.720 Young Collectors collection, the idea was to offer more accessible objects. 00:02:14.720 --> 00:02:17.760 And these rare everyday objects make it possible to rediscover both 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:24.120 rarity of objects and their quality. We have a set of objects 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:30.519 from the Tula Imperial Manufactory, founded in 1712, south of Moscow. Originally, this 00:02:30.519 --> 00:02:35.720 manufactory was dedicated to armory, apparel and duels, but gradually 00:02:35.720 --> 00:02:40.080 the Empress Catherine II, who was very fond of decorative arts, asked the 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.640 most skillful craftsmen to create objets d’art, such as the money boxes 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:48.440 we have here, or caskets. They used exactly the 00:02:48.440 --> 00:02:53.800 same materials they used for weapons: steel, pewter, gilded bronze 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.519 and copper. To start a collection, it’s really rare everyday 00:02:57.519 --> 00:03:01.760 objects that are totally out of the ordinary. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.000 Compigné are oval or rectangular paintings which were 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.480 mainly created, as their name indicates, by Thomas Compigné, who came 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:18.560 from Italy in the years 1750–1760. 00:03:18.799 --> 00:03:22.599 His initial work was to create furniture interiors. He 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:27.599 became the preferred tabletier of King Louis XV and King Louis XVI. And then 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.760 gradually he began to create small paintings on different 00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:36.159 materials, such as pewter, or tortoiseshell, which would be 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:41.360 enhanced by engraving and completed with gold leaf, 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:46.760 gouache and varnish. Here we see the castle, which is 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:50.720 completely engraved in pewter, with great detail. You have to 00:03:50.720 --> 00:03:55.079 imagine that he did it with a magnifying glass with extremely fine tools, and it 00:03:55.079 --> 00:03:58.360 took an enormous amount of time to do, so impressive is the 00:03:58.360 --> 00:04:02.680 precision. So the castle is enhanced with gold leaf, the 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:05.840 roofs and the river at the back are in a silver color. So, quite simply, there 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.920 was an application of silver. And then, for the rest of the landscape and the 00:04:08.920 --> 00:04:12.519 characters, you had gouache in different colors, with varnish that 00:04:12.519 --> 00:04:15.200 was 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:19.199 added. You didn’t come empty-handed, but you shouldn’t. I’m 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:22.840 embarrassed, frankly. No, I don’t deserve this beautiful gift. They’re not 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:28.280 Christmas gifts. No, they’re going back to the Galerie Léage as soon as 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:32.280 this show ends. Look, we begin with this little purse, which is from the 00:04:32.280 --> 00:04:37.840 Louis XV period. So we’re talking 1760–1770. It’s a small purse in 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:40.720 which you put chips to play cards 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:44.680 or backgammon. Look how cute it is. You can imagine, it’s in incredible 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:49.160 condition. And it belonged… You can see the coat of arms here. 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:53.720 It belonged to Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.479 In fact, the mother of Louis XVI, the wife of the Dauphin. And it’s 00:04:57.479 --> 00:05:01.600 extraordinary that this kind of small object comes to us in such 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.840 good condition. And when the person was prestigious, of course they embroidered 00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:09.960 the coat of arms. And here, it’s those of Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. Look, 00:05:09.960 --> 00:05:13.080 I show you this. It’s an inkwell, as you can see, 00:05:13.080 --> 00:05:16.479 a small inkstand in Boulle marquetry. You know, Boulle marquetry is 00:05:16.479 --> 00:05:22.479 a superposition of light and dark materials. So the base is ebony. 00:05:22.479 --> 00:05:27.400 On the top, we have brass, tortoise shell and pewter. And 00:05:27.400 --> 00:05:30.680 look at this, it’s what we call an “à secret” object, because 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.280 when you turn it, there’s a whole side 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:38.919 part that—look, when I lift this side part— 00:05:38.919 --> 00:05:42.960 what do we find? It was a little secret drawer where one would put 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:47.319 little love notes or letters that had to remain 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:52.479 secret. So there you have it, an “à secret” object, when one wanted to keep 00:05:52.479 --> 00:05:57.840 secrets. So all of this is to be found at Galerie Léage. This 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:04.759 new collection of objects, it’s Young Collectors. Thank you.