Lot Essay
Jean-Baptiste Boulard, maître in 1775
Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené, maître in 1769
These two chairs were supplied to the Garde-meuble de la Couronne by its two principal menuisiers. Though very close in form and carving of details, they are in fact by two different makers and were supplied at different times.
The chair by Boulard was ordered in 1786, as witnessed by its label, under the order No. 74 for the service des magasins du Garde-meuble. It was decorated by Chatard, painter and gilder, Faubourg Montmartre in Paris. The order was for 48 such chairs all covered in green velours d'Utrecht (Archives Nationales. 01 3288. F68. and 01 3638).
Pour le service du magazin: 48 chaises de table à moulure, pieds a guesnme avec des T dessous, et siège solide, sintré au dossier at sur le devant, avec un quaré sur les coins, eu égard au marchepied on compte plus de façon, bois, menuserie et monture à raison de 11 1. pièce......528 l. (Archives Nationales, 01 3638)
The chair by Sené was part of a set of 24 supplied in 1787, under order No. 95, to furnish the rooms reserved for the Maréchaux de France in the Louvre. These chairs were covered with a moquette. (Archives Nationales. 01 3641)
Chairs of this model were very fashionable at the time and were most likely used to furnish a dining room. Pierre Verlet published a pair of chairs of this model, in the Musée Carnavalet, originally from the dining- room of Madame Elisabeth, Louis XVI's sister, at her small château at Montreuil. A pair of chairs from the same set as the 1786 Boulard chair is now in the De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. They are also stamped by Boulard and have the same label of Chatard with the order number 74 and a label inscribed pour le service des magazins, No. 74. That pair has been recarved.
Guillaume Janneau has also published a chair now in the Mobilier National from the same series (see G. Janneau, Le mobilier français: les sièges, les meubles d'ébénisterie, 2 vol, 1973).
Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené, maître in 1769
These two chairs were supplied to the Garde-meuble de la Couronne by its two principal menuisiers. Though very close in form and carving of details, they are in fact by two different makers and were supplied at different times.
The chair by Boulard was ordered in 1786, as witnessed by its label, under the order No. 74 for the service des magasins du Garde-meuble. It was decorated by Chatard, painter and gilder, Faubourg Montmartre in Paris. The order was for 48 such chairs all covered in green velours d'Utrecht (Archives Nationales. 01 3288. F68. and 01 3638).
Pour le service du magazin: 48 chaises de table à moulure, pieds a guesnme avec des T dessous, et siège solide, sintré au dossier at sur le devant, avec un quaré sur les coins, eu égard au marchepied on compte plus de façon, bois, menuserie et monture à raison de 11 1. pièce......528 l. (Archives Nationales, 01 3638)
The chair by Sené was part of a set of 24 supplied in 1787, under order No. 95, to furnish the rooms reserved for the Maréchaux de France in the Louvre. These chairs were covered with a moquette. (Archives Nationales. 01 3641)
Chairs of this model were very fashionable at the time and were most likely used to furnish a dining room. Pierre Verlet published a pair of chairs of this model, in the Musée Carnavalet, originally from the dining- room of Madame Elisabeth, Louis XVI's sister, at her small château at Montreuil. A pair of chairs from the same set as the 1786 Boulard chair is now in the De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. They are also stamped by Boulard and have the same label of Chatard with the order number 74 and a label inscribed pour le service des magazins, No. 74. That pair has been recarved.
Guillaume Janneau has also published a chair now in the Mobilier National from the same series (see G. Janneau, Le mobilier français: les sièges, les meubles d'ébénisterie, 2 vol, 1973).