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Lot Essay
Jacques Audry, maître in 1777.
A Louis XVI giltwood canapé of identical form, stamped by the menuisier François-Claude Ménant, together with two pairs of unstamped fauteuils en suite, were sold from the collection of Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke Bernet, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lots 719-21. Ménant was not elected maître until 1786, which could apparently point to these chairs being made in an extremely retardataire Transitional style of circa 1775. However, this atelier was in the rue de Charenton, an endroit privilegié where craftsmen could operate without the restrictions of the guilds and thus meant may well have employed this stamp before becoming maître.
The existence of a closely related bergère stamped C.-L. Burgat, illustrated in B.G.B Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIème Siècle en France, Paris, 1987, pl. 182, and now in the Metropolitan Museum, suggests that this model was diffused amongst several menuisiers at this time.
A Louis XVI giltwood canapé of identical form, stamped by the menuisier François-Claude Ménant, together with two pairs of unstamped fauteuils en suite, were sold from the collection of Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke Bernet, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lots 719-21. Ménant was not elected maître until 1786, which could apparently point to these chairs being made in an extremely retardataire Transitional style of circa 1775. However, this atelier was in the rue de Charenton, an endroit privilegié where craftsmen could operate without the restrictions of the guilds and thus meant may well have employed this stamp before becoming maître.
The existence of a closely related bergère stamped C.-L. Burgat, illustrated in B.G.B Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIème Siècle en France, Paris, 1987, pl. 182, and now in the Metropolitan Museum, suggests that this model was diffused amongst several menuisiers at this time.