Shopfront from 3, quai de Bourbon, Île Saint-Louis, Paris

Etienne Séjournant

between 1775–77, with later replacements · Oak · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This Parisian shopfront, from the north bank of the Ile Saint-Louis, stood on a site favorable to commerce, close to the junction of the Quai Bourbon and the Pont Marie, an early seventeenth-century bridge over the Seine. It was superimposed on the masonry of an existing seventeenth-century building, the modest outlines of which can still be seen. Chroniclers of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Paris drew attention to the charm and rarity of this isolated little shopfront, which was thought to be the only surviving eighteenth-century example in the city. By the time it was dismantled in World War I, the original painted surface had weathered to the bare oak and the woodwork had suffered some losses. When the shopfront was restored at the Museum, the natural tone of the wood was retained. The missing elements were supplied in accordance with a measured drawing of the shopfront published in 1870.

Artist

Etienne Séjournant

Date

between 1775–77, with later replacements

Medium

Oak

Culture

French, Paris

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1920