# JOUBERT, Gilles [View the canonical artist record]() ## Artist - Lifespan: 1689–1775 - Profession: cabinet-maker - School: French ## Biography French cabinetmaker. He was a member of a Parisian family of menuisiers and became a maître-ébéniste sometime between 1714 and 1722. After the death of Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus \(1751\) he became the main supplier to the Crown for 23 years and carried out commissions for 4000 pieces of furniture. Only a few, however, were masterpieces, produced either by Joubert or under his supervision. In 1758 he received the title of Ebéniste Ordinaire du Garde Meuble and in 1763, on the death of Jean-François Oeben, he became Ebéniste du Roi. Gradually, however, his position was taken over by Jean-Henri Riesener. Joubert acted to some extent as a main contractor, and when his workshop could not fulfil commissions he subcontracted to such cabinetmakers as Mathieu Criard, Marchand, Jacques Dubois, François Mondon, Boudin, Foullet, Louis Péridiez \(1731-64\), Deloose, Simon Oeben and particularly, during his final years of work, to Roger Vandercruse. Joubert did not sign his furniture; the few pieces that have been attributed to him indicate that he progressed smoothly from the symmetrical Louis XV to the Neo-classical style. This is particularly evident in the red, lacquered writing-table \(c. 1759; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art\) for Louis XV, a formerly lacquered lean-to secrétaire \(Louisville, KY, Speed Art Museum\), a pair of clock pedestals \(London, Buckingham Palace, Royal Collection\) from Louis XV's bedchamber at Versailles and a commode \(1769; Malibu, CA, Getty Museum\) made for Princess Louise \(1737-87\). ## Related artworks - [Commode]() - [Corner table \(detail\)]() - [Slant-front desk with Boulle marquetry]() - [Writing table \(bureau plat\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()