.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Jean-Baptiste II Lelarge, maître in 1738.
His son, Jean-Baptiste III Lelarge, took over the workshop in 1775.
Elected maître-menuisier on 1 February 1775, the son of the menuisier Jean-Baptiste Lelarge and Marie Catherine Saint-George (herself daughter of a menuisier en siège), Jean-Baptiste Lelarge was established on the rue de Cléry, like his father. On the death of his father in 1771, the atelier had six workbenches. His production is characterised by rich carving of exceptional quality, in large part due to the skills of the sculpteur Nicolas Vallois, who also worked for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.
As Kjellberg has noted, these canapés conform closely to a design of the celebrated ornemaniste Jean-Charles Delafosse (P. Kjellberg, op. cit., 1991, p.287). Delafosse (1734-1789), whose engravings were published c. 1770, did not introduce the 'goût grec' but through his engravings was largely responsible for its dissemination. Among these is the design for a canapé closely related to the present lot. Despite the early-neoclassical carving of the Vitruvian-scroll aprons and the fluted arm terminals and legs, they still retain traces of the rococo in their deeply curved ends and scrolling crest rail.
His son, Jean-Baptiste III Lelarge, took over the workshop in 1775.
Elected maître-menuisier on 1 February 1775, the son of the menuisier Jean-Baptiste Lelarge and Marie Catherine Saint-George (herself daughter of a menuisier en siège), Jean-Baptiste Lelarge was established on the rue de Cléry, like his father. On the death of his father in 1771, the atelier had six workbenches. His production is characterised by rich carving of exceptional quality, in large part due to the skills of the sculpteur Nicolas Vallois, who also worked for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.
As Kjellberg has noted, these canapés conform closely to a design of the celebrated ornemaniste Jean-Charles Delafosse (P. Kjellberg, op. cit., 1991, p.287). Delafosse (1734-1789), whose engravings were published c. 1770, did not introduce the 'goût grec' but through his engravings was largely responsible for its dissemination. Among these is the design for a canapé closely related to the present lot. Despite the early-neoclassical carving of the Vitruvian-scroll aprons and the fluted arm terminals and legs, they still retain traces of the rococo in their deeply curved ends and scrolling crest rail.