DAUPHIN Jean-Baptiste (EN)
Biographical Article
Very little is known about the life of Jean-Baptiste Louis Dauphin. He was born in Marseilles on April 15, 1823, to Gaspard François Régis Dauphin, a printer by trade, and Marie-Thérèse Renoux, without profession.
As an antiques dealer, he first appeared in the Indicateur marseillais in the year 1864. Keeping a shop at 121, rue d'Aubagne until 1867, he then moved to 2, place de la Préfecture, still in the 6th arrondissement of Marseilles. Little information has come down regarding the type of objects sold. The trade guide indicates no other specialty than the sale of works of art.
The notebooks of the collector Marie Grobet (1852-1944) mention a certain Dauphin, from whom she was able to acquire several pieces of earthenware from Moustiers. These transactions are noted as taking place on August 9, 1874, and approximately in the months of October 1874 and April 1876 (Linou M.-J. and Coutancier B., 2018, p. 27; 134).
The business was taken over by Hélène Lagache in 1878, when Jean-Baptiste Louis Dauphin became an "annuitant", as specified in the guide, in his home at 100, rue du Dragon.
On January 27, 1866, Dauphin married Magdeleine Brun (1837-1918), who was a clerk residing in La Bâtie-Crémezin in the Drôme, daughter of a landowner, Jean Brun. .
A certain Jean Lagache was the witness for the bride and groom, as listed in the city’s registry of marriages (AM Marseille, 201 E 4554). Our research has not been able to establish the nature of the relationship.
Widowed in 1894 or 1895, she appears in the Indicateur marseillais in 1895, as an annuitant, like her late husband. Upon her death in 1918, she bequeathed a sum of 10,000 francs to the charity office, as well as her entire collection of ceramics and three period pieces of furniture to the city of Marseilles (AD 13, 4 O 58 59).
The Collection
The bequest, made by a handwritten will dated May 23, 1917, and accepted by the city of Marseille on May 13, 1919, was enacted under the name of Madame Veuve Jean-Baptiste Dauphin (AD 13, 4 O 58 59). The donation included a set of old earthenware and porcelain, accompanied by three Louis XVI showcases, for a set representing a total of around 150 pieces. The examination by Jean-Amédée Gibert (1869-1945) attests to a collection that was "very important and of high interest". The curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille was delighted with this "happy and sumptuous acquisition" as it was "in perfect condition" and of "great artistic value" (AM Marseilles, 721 W 88).
The collection was mainly oriented towards the local production of earthenware, from various Marseille factories. Jean-Baptiste Louis Dauphin showed a marked interest in the factory of Gaspard Robert. Also included are the productions of the factories of Saint-Jean-du-désert and Héraud-Leroy. The inventory registers also show a large number of earthenware pieces from Moustiers, Italy, and Saxony (Grobet-Labadié museum). Those from Ferrat have Chinese decorations (inv. GF 3201) and reveal a discreet attraction for Asia, which materialised in the acquisition of porcelain from Japan, in Imari style, from the famille rose Chinese porcelain with polychrome enamels, from the Qianlong period (乾隆) [1736-1795], and from the East India Company. These were mainly pieces produced for the export market.
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