Pierre Delabarre

French, active c. 1625 - 1654

BiographyPierre Delabarre (active ca. 1625 to d.1654), also known as the Master of the Dragons, came from a large family of Parisian goldsmiths. When he was appointed master goldsmith in 1625, he joined his two brothers in receiving official lodgings at the Louvre. The French goldsmith is widely known for sourcing and reusing unusual hardstones in his work and promoting a particular ornamental motif that featured pea pods, tendrils of seeds, and small trefoil leaves. With the assistance of engraver Isaac Briot, Delabarre published a series of ornament prints, the Livre de toutes sortes de feuilles servant à l’orfèvrerie [The Book of All Sorts of Leaves Used in Goldsmiths’ Work], that represented abstract bouquets comprising these imaginative foliate elements. The Museum should consider looking for examples of Delabarre’s prints on the market to accompany a presentation of this work. Delabarre’s name is associated with a number of works in important treasuries, including the French Royal Collection now in the Louvre. The TMA has several prints from a series of the “Gemmes et Joyaux de la Couronne,” published in Paris in 1864, including an etching of a Rock Crystal Mirror from the royal collection—now in the Louvre—that has been attributed to Delabarre or his circle (1913.111). These works could be shown together as part of an installation on goldsmith’s art or early modern collecting and collections.

Jean Vangrol worked as a goldsmith in Paris around 1620–1640, but was of Flemish origins and is thought to be the son of the Antwerp goldsmith, Jean van Groll. Valet de chambre ordinaire to Marie de Medici, he occupied a workshop at the Galerie du Louvre and, at the time of his death, was renting lodgings from Pierre Delabarre on the rue Béthisy (now part of the rue de Rivoli). Such evidence puts these two figures in close historical proximity, as well as connecting them on stylistic grounds. Vangrol’s use of vegetal mounts ornamented with rubies is undoubtedly influenced by Delabarre, but his ornamentation typically is more repetitive than Delabarre’s, which retains a sense of random whimsy.

The final individuals of significance in the history of the Court Tazza are Gustaf Celsing I (the Elder) and his sons Gustaf Celsing the younger (1723–1789) and Ulrich Celsing (1731–1805). Gustaf I served as Secretary for the Swedish legation at the Ottoman Court during King Charles VII’s exile in Constantinople following Swedish defeat against Russia. Gustaf embraced life at the Ottoman court. He taught himself Turkish and is known to have dressed up in Ottoman dress from time to time. On one such occasion, September 15, 1711, Gustaf was directed to deliver a letter from the Swedish king to the Sultan and when he approached the Sultan while processing to the Hagia Sophia for Friday prayer, he was arrested and sent to be executed. His identity was fortunately uncovered, and he was released. Gustaf I’s sons followed in their father’s footsteps as spent much of their lives as Swedish diplomats attached to the Ottoman court. Gustaf Celsing the younger was installed in Constantinople as part of the Swedish Legation, first as Secretary in 1745 and then Resident in 1747. He was finally promoted to Envoy in 1750 and remained at court in Turkey until 1773. Ulrich Celsing was also actively involved in Turkish statecraft working alongside his brother as part of the Legation. He became the Legation’s Secretary in 1756 and then served a decade as Swedish minister, 1770 to 1780. Together, the Celsing father and two sons assembled a collection of Ottoman paintings, textiles, furniture, and objets d’art like the Court Tazza, which is internationally regarded as one of the most significant collections of Ottoman art in western Europe. The von Celsing collection of over 100 paintings was sold to the Orientalist Museum in Doha, Qatar and shortly thereafter the rest of the collection, including the Tazza, was sold at auction in 2014.

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