Born in Germany, Baumhauer moved to Paris in the 1740s. At the time French craftsmen opposed immigrants as possible competitors in their market. His marriage to the daughter of a French cabinetmaker undoubtedly helped advance his career and he excelled in his new home. Around 1749 Baumhauer was appointed marchand-ébéniste privilégié du roi (dealer and cabinetmaker) to Louis XV, without ever becoming a master in the French guild system. This commode or chest of drawers features all the hallmarks of Joseph’s best work: an elegant, curvilinear form, variegated marble top that complements the figured veneers, and gilded mounts in their asymmetrical splendor. Its case is stamped “Joseph,” the mark he used after dropping his German surname. It is the finest example of French Rococo furniture given to Bowdoin by Susan Dwight Bliss, the Francophile collector who donated a significant collection of European works on paper, rare books, and architectural fragments now assembled in the Bliss Room of the Bowdoin College Library.

American, New Amsterdam