Petit appartement du roi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article is about the petit appartement du roi of the Palace of Versailles.

From 1683 to 1693, during Louis XIV’s 3rd building campaign, the king ordered the construction of the appartement des collections (also know as the appartement des raretés). This apartment comprised:

• le Salon ovale
• le cabinet aux tableaux
• le cabinet aux coquilles
• le cabinet aux médailles
• la petite galerie (with its two salons)^[1]
• le cabinet du billard

The appartement des collections housed the rarest and most valuable of the artworks in Louis XIV’s collection. Access to these rooms was by personal invitation of Louis XIV, and descriptions of the collections have survived. These are some of the objects housed in the appartement des collections:

• Large vases garnished with gold and diamonds
• Antique busts
• A nef (a vessel used at meals in which a damp napkin was kept to wipe one's fingers — these types of vessels were common before the practice of eating with a fork became popular) garnished with diamonds and rubies (this nef, which was stripped of its gems and melted down during the French Revolution, was, nevertheless, depicted in the ceiling of the salon de l’Abondance.)
• Chinese and Japanese porcelains
• Vases carved from various semi-precious stones
• Paintings^[2]

Between 1738 and 1760, Louis XV instituted significant changes to the appartement des collections. In 1738, the king ordered the construction of a new bedroom — la nouvelle chambre — as Louis XIV’s old bedroom was too uncomfortable in the winter to use for anything but his morning lévé. The arrangement of the petit appartement du roi ca. 1760 was:

• La nouvelle chambre — this room was constructed on the site of Louis XIV's billiard room.
• Le cabinet de la Pendule — this room was created by surpassing the staircase of Louis XIII and combining it with the cabinet aux tableaux. The room, which served as a gaming room, derives its name from the astronomical clock built by Passemant and Dauthia (the gilt-bronze case of the clock is by Caffieri).
• Le cabinet des Chiens — this room was reserved for Louis XV’s hunting dogs.
• La salle à manger des retours de chasse — this was a small dining room used by Louis XV to entertain his friends after hunting.^[3]
• Le cabinet intérieur du roi — was constructed in 1755 and was used as a private workroom for Louis XV. The room’s main feature is the roll-top desk by Oeben and Riesener, which by turning one key opens the roll-top and the drawers of the desk. This is the only piece of furniture original to Versailles that was neither sold during the Revolution nor removed from the château.
• La pièce de la vaisselle d'or or le Cabinet de Mme Adélaïde — constructed in 1752, after the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs (this room was originally one of the two salons of the petite gallerie), this room served as the room in which Louis XV’s gold tableware was displayed and where his daughter, Mme Adélaïde, had her music room.^[4]
• La Bibliothèque — dating from 1774, the library, which occupies the site of the petite gallerie — was to be Louis XVI’s most significant contribution to Versailles.
• La salle à manger aux salles neuves — also known as the salle des porcelains, it was in this room that the royal family dined in private during the reign of Louis XVI. Every year during the Christmas season, samples of that year’s production from the porcelain factory at Sèvres would be displayed here. This room originally was one of the two salons of the petite gallerie.
• La salle de Billard and le salon des Jeux were built in 1795 and occupy space in what was part of Mme de Montespan’s apartment. The rooms issue from the salle à manger aux salles neuves and were used by the royal family for evening entertainment.

[edit] Notes