Joseph Baumhauer

Such stamps, like the long-mysterious B.V.R.B., served to mask the identity of cabinetmakers to the clientele of marchands-merciers, such as Lazare Duvaux, who owed the "ébéniste Joseph" 1726 livres at the time of his death.

[4] Furniture stamped by Baumhauer that is mounted with Sèvres porcelain plaques must have been commissioned and sold by Simon-Philippe Poirier, who maintained a monopoly of the production, having originally devised the decor.

[5] some furniture stamped by Joseph is veneered with panels of Japanese lacquer, another sure indication of the intervention of a marchand-mercier, who, rather than the cabinetmaker himself, was in a position to purchase Japanese screens and cabinets, have them disassembled and, once the wooden support of the lacquer surfaces had been planed down, applied as costly veneer panels.

[6] The inventory of his workshop and stock in trade taken after his death following a long illness gives a snapshot of his current style; one of the appraisers was the ébéniste Martin Carlin, to whom Joseph owed 113 livres.

[8] About 1745 he married Reine Chicot, of a family of Parisian menuisiers, makers of carved panelling and seat furniture.