1934.138: The Warburg Ceiling

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1934.138

People

Unidentified Artist

Title

The Warburg Ceiling

Other Titles

Title: Carved Ceiling Beams from the Hôtel Desbarres, Dijon

Classification

Architectural Elements

Work Type

architectural element

Date

c. 1540

Places

Creation Place: Europe, France, Dijon

Culture

French

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/231127

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Oak

Dimensions

1066.8 x 1371.6 cm (420 x 540 in.) entire ceiling

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Probably commissioned for a house at no. 3 rue Jeannin (previously rue du Faucon), Dijon, France, probably owned by the Desbarres family, around 1540; the house, by descent to Marguerite le Blond, widow of Nicholas Desbarres, 1611; to her daughter Marguerite de Gissey; sold; to Jean-François Joly (d.1767), 1742, by descent; to his nephew and niece Bernard and Marguerite Rosand, 1767, sold; to François Rathelot, 1775, sold; to Charles Enguerrand (d. 1817), 1778, by descent; to his daughter Espérance Tarnier and her husband J.-B. Tarnier, by descent; to their sons Jean-Frédéric and Antoine-Marie-Octave Tarnier, sold; to François Calais (d. 1875), 1855, by descent; to his daughter Stéphanie-Marie-Augustine Chavin, sold; to Philibert Berthaux and François Bottard, 1888; beams removed from the building at no. 3 rue Jeannin, supposedly sold [1]; to [Monsieur Berthaux (Berthaut), Dijon, c. 1922], [2] sold; to George Grey Barnard, New York, 1923; sold to Fogg Art Museum, 1926

Notes
[1] The chain of descent is recorded by Auguste Gasser in “Le plafond sculpté de la maison no. 3 rue Jeannin,” in "Académie des sciences, arts et belles-lettres de Dijon, Mémories de la commission des antiquités de la Côte-d’Or," pp. 33-60, March 1923

[2] There is some conflicting documentation surrounding Barnard’s acquisition of the beams. “A Carved Ceiling of the Burgundian School,” The Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, November 1934 indicates that the ceiling was purchased about 1919 by Barnard. However, archival research from both the Harvard Art Museums Archives and the files at Musées de Dijon indicates that it was likely Monsieur Berthaux (Berthaut) that sold the beams to George Grey Barnard in 1922.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Dijon Ceiling and Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Funds

Accession Year

1934

Object Number

1934.138

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• "Séance du 8 janvier 1892", Mémoires de la Société bourguignonne de géographie et d'histoire (1892), pp. XII-XIII; XXXV-XXXVI
• Henri Chabeuf, Dijon, Monuments et Souvenirs, Damidot (Dijon, 1894), p. 404
• Auguste Gasser, “Le plafond sculpté de la maison no. 3 rue Jeannin”, Académie des sciences, arts et belles-lettres de Dijon, Mémories de la commission des antiquités de la Côte-d’Or (March 1923), pp. 33-60, pp. 33-60
• Eugène Fyot, Dijon, son passé évoqué par ses rues, Damidot (Dijon, 1928), p. 424, p. 425 (rep), p. 426 (rep), p. 427
• Frederick Bruce Robinson, "Ceiling of the Great Hall, Fogg Art Museum, Taken from No. 3, Rue Jeannin, Dijon", Harvard Alumni Bulletin (June 3, 1932), pp. 1044-1047, pp. 1044-1047, repr. p. 1044, 1046
• Roger Gilman, "A Carved Ceiling of the Burgundian School", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum (November 1934), Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 10-15, pp.10-15, repr.
• Pierre Quarré, "Les Plafonds Sculptés de l'Ancien Hôtel Desbarres a Dijon" (Memories de la Commission des Antiquités du département de la Côte-d'Or, 1974-1975), pp. 187-194
• Kathryn Brush, Vastly More than Brick and Mortar: Reinventing the Fogg Art Museum in the 1920s, Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge MA / New Haven, CT, 2003), pp. 94, 117, 139, repr. p. 117 as fig. 56
• Naomi Reed Kline, "Obscenity as the Woodworker's Last Laugh", Profane Images in Marginal Arts of the Middle Ages, ed. Elaine C. Block (2009), pp. 185-198, repr.pp. 188-189 as figs. 10.1-10.3
• Naomi Reed Kline, "Household Beams to Misericords: The Subtext of Narrative", La nature, rythme et danse des saisons dans les stalles médiévales: actes du colloque Misericordia International de Bâle (septembre 2006), Brepols (Turnhout, 2011), pp. 101-112, pp. 101-112, repr. p. 102 as Fig. 1, p. 106, as Fig. 5,
• Clément Lassus-Minivielle, Les Mystères de Dijon (Chaumont, France, 2024), pp. 254-255

Verification Level