Lot Essay
This remarkable armchair, with its sinuously framed heart-shaped back and seat, is one of only two known of this extraordinary model for a fauteuil coiffer. The other example is in the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Paris, formerly in the Carlhian Collection and donated to the museum by Frederick P. Victoria in memory of his late son, Frederick. The heart shape of the back of the example offered here is further emphasized through the fact that it is pierced above the seat, while the Paris example is panelled at that point. Although neither example is stamped, so individual is the design of these chairs that they must originate from the same menuisier's workshop.