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Monquignon | Insole label
Source: Shoe Icons
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In 1896
Perchellet sold his activity to Denis and Alfred Monquignon. [4]
The new owners were father and son, both cordonniers. There's a record of a Monquignon bottier in 1860, among the members of the Société Municipale de
Secours Mutuels (9e arrondissement de Paris) operating in an area of the city[5]: it was Denis, the father, as Alfred-René Mounquignon was born the following year (1861).
In 1877 at sixteen, Alfred still worked with his father in Rue Lafayette, and later completed his apprentice at Mr. Ducret, another cordonnier. [6]
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A wedding shoe by Monquignon
Vamp detail
Source: Shoe Icons
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Monquignon | Paris
a silk boot once owned by Jeanette Dwight Bliss
Source: Metmuseum
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In 1882, Monquignon took part to a strike promoted by the workers in the field of shoe making («Grève de la cordonnerie de la Seine») and among the others protesters there was Perchellet as well. [7]
In 1888 Monquignon operated a shoe a boutique in Rue Hausmann, Paris [8] until they moved to Place Vendôme to the former Perchellet shop, keeping the sign of the former owner. Even the shoe style remained more or less unchanged, especially the evening shoes.
Like Perchellet before them, the new company was awarded with the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris of 1900: another info to be added to the insole label.
In 1905 Alfred Monquignon served as vice-president of the Chambre Syndacale des Chausseurs de Paris. At that time, the President was the well known Hellstern. [9]
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The Perchellet-Monquignon Boutique | Paris
Photo by Charles Joseph Antoine Lansiaux (detail)
At the corner of Place Vendôme and Rue Saint Honoré
Source: Paris Musées
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The above photograph it's from the period after the acquisition by Monquignon, meaning after 1896.
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1916 | The corner of Place Vendôme and Rue Saint Honoré with the
Perchellet-Monquignon Boutique | Paris
Source: Wikimedia
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Top: Monquignon | Paris
Source: Metmuseum
Bottom: Monquignon | Paris
Source: Shoe Icons
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At the Metropolitan Museum of Art there are three models from the Monquignon period. The first one, the silk pump in black colour of the above photo, is from an anonymous donor and the caption says:
The vamp features an attractive beadwork design, dense but well articulated. The extreme toe shape and curved sole are peculiar to Parisian shoes at this time, and together with the high cut of the back and throat, produce a perfectly straight line along the top profile.
Source: Metmuseum
The two other models (a pump and a boot) are both a gift by Susan Dwight Bliss, most probably her mother's, Jeanette Dwight Bliss. Mrs Jeanette was the daughter of a wealthy cotton merchant, and she was married to a banker.
The Russian museum Shoe Icons owns three models. Among them a refined wedding shoe, with an elegant decoration of white and golden beads on the vamp.
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Monquignon | Paris
Evening shoe detail
Source: Shoe Icons
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According to the Annuaire
du commerce Didot-Bottin, the Maison Perchellet-Monquignon was still in place
Vendôme in 1914, although it had already moved to rue du Colisée, 15 in Paris in
1921.
FOOTNOTES
[4] Archives commerciales de la France, journal hebdomadaire, Paris, Feb 19, 1896
[5] Société Municipale de Secours Mutuels du 9e arrondissement de Paris, Assemblée Général du 25 mars 1860, Compte Rendu, Paris, Typographie de A.Wittersheim, 1860
[6] Société Municipale de Secours Mutuels du 9e arrondissement de Paris, Assemblée Général du 6 may 1876, Compte Rendu, Paris, Imprimérie cenrale des Chemins de Fer, A. Chaix & Cie
[7] Le Radical, newspaper, Paris Jun 6, 1882
[7] Le Radical, newspaper, Paris Jun 6, 1882
[8] Annuaire-almanach du commerce, de l'industrie, de la magistrature et de l'administration : ou almanach des 500.000 adresses de Paris, des départements et des pays étrangers : Firmin Didot et Bottin réunis, Paris, 1888
[9] Le Journal (newspaper), Paris, Apr 25, 1905
[10] Annuaire du commerce Didot-Bottin, Paris 1914, 1921
