Mallorcan neoclassical furniture and Isern workshop

What is

The golden age of Palma furniture: neoclassical marquetry between the years 1770 and 1820 (Pou Amengual, 2016). Workshops that exported to the court of Charles IV. The most documented: the Isern family.

How is

• Mahogany and lemongrass, inlaid woods (taracea).
• Six-pointed star motif in marquetry: “Jovellanos” chest from Bellver and chest of drawers from the La Granja d'Esporles museum.
• Forms: chests of drawers (canteranos), tables, chairs, faristols, "hebdomadary chair."

How is fa

• Fusters d'obra prima (fine work: marquetry, domestic furniture) versus fusters d'obra grossa (rough carpentry) (Pou, 2016).
• Veneered on pine core, inlays, varnish.
• Drawing school of the Mallorcan Economic Society of Friends of the Country (SEMAP) (Pou, 2016).

Com s'usa

• Casales de Palma, monasteries (Cartoixa de Valldemossa), illustrious clients.

Vocabulary

• fuster d'obra prima / obra grossa: fine / coarse carpenter.
• marqueteria / maderas embutidas: inlay.
• xapat: veneered.
• majordom del gremi: position of the guild.

History

• 1741: Antoni Isern (d. 1828) is born in Valldemossa; sons Antoni (1771-1842) and Josep (Pou, 2016).

-c . 1801-1808: Jovellanos, imprisoned in Valldemossa and Bellver, orders furniture from the Iserns.

-c . 1802-1805: furniture for the Cartoixa of Valldemossa.

• 1806 or 1809: the Catalan sculptor-cabinetmaker Adrià Ferran i Vallès arrives in Palma (date according to source); workshop of 22 workers (Sotheby's). Many attributions to Ferran are popular (Pou).
• 1817: the fusters guild earns 2,277 lliures, the 11th in the city (Pou, 2016).
• 1850: the traveler Henry Christmas compares Mallorcan cabinetmakers with those of Paris and London (Pou, 2016).

On veure'n

• Castell de Bellver: “Jovellanos” chest.
• La Granja d'Esporles: chest of drawers with a six-pointed star.
• Cartoixa de Valldemossa: sacristy (faristol, Carles IV chests of drawers).
• Can Vivot and Fundació Bartolomé March (to verify pieces).

Why is it design

• Workshop with its own style on an island: it exported to the court.
• Geometry as a signature: the six-pointed star identifies pieces.

For the project

• Research: Isern route (Valldemossa, Bellver, Esporles).
• Bibliography: Massot Ramis, Cantarellas and Martínez, El moble a les Illes Balears, centuries XIII-XIX (1995); The furniture to Mallorca. Centuries XIII-XX. Stat of the question (Consell, 2009, to be verified); Massot, Furniture in Mallorca (Olañeta, 2012).
• Trades: cabinet-making-and-furniture-majorqui · carving-and-sculpture-in-whip . Files: canterano , cadiram-de-la-seu , calaixera .

Sources

• reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/RM/article/download/10868/10432/20217
• sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/arts-europe-l15301/lot.235.html
• research.frick.org/spanish/detail/758

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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