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Lot Essay
Louis I Cresson, maître in 1738.
Designed in the early Louis XV 'pittoresque' style, these fauteuils originally formed part of an extremely grand suite of seat-furniture. They reflect the influence of the influential ornemaniste Juste-Aurèle Meissonier, such as featured in his design for a related fauteuil in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Such 'pittoresque' ornament in the carving of the frames is further enhanced by the contemporary tapestry covers. With their distinctive pomegranate spray cartouche to the center of the sea-trail, this suite is characteristic of the oeuvre of the Cresson dynasty of menuisiers, founded by Charles and Jean Cresson during the Régence and continued by both Louis I, René and Michel during the first half of the 18th century. Like his cousins, Louis Cresson (d.1761) established his workshops in the rue de Cléry and was patronised by the duc d'Orléans as well as the prince de Condé.
Slightly later Louis XV fauteuils by Louis Cresson are in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. II, pp. 602 - 603, cat. 128), and in the Wrightsman Collection is illustrated, F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 10, cat. 6.
A further pair of chairs almost certainly originally from this suite was sold from the collection of the philanthropist Florence J. Gould, Sotheby's Monaco, 25 - 26 June 1984, lot 670. Florence Gould (1895-1983), daughter of Maximilien Lacaze, a wealthy French publisher, was born in San Francisco and trained to become an opera singer. In 1923 she married Frank Jay Gould, son of the American railroad magnate, Jay Gould. The couple moved to France where as a young woman Florence established herself by hosting what became noted artistic salons in their Avenue Malakoff home in Paris for the literary and artistic fraternity - including Roger Caillois, Salvador Dali, Louise de Vilmorin etc.
Designed in the early Louis XV 'pittoresque' style, these fauteuils originally formed part of an extremely grand suite of seat-furniture. They reflect the influence of the influential ornemaniste Juste-Aurèle Meissonier, such as featured in his design for a related fauteuil in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Such 'pittoresque' ornament in the carving of the frames is further enhanced by the contemporary tapestry covers. With their distinctive pomegranate spray cartouche to the center of the sea-trail, this suite is characteristic of the oeuvre of the Cresson dynasty of menuisiers, founded by Charles and Jean Cresson during the Régence and continued by both Louis I, René and Michel during the first half of the 18th century. Like his cousins, Louis Cresson (d.1761) established his workshops in the rue de Cléry and was patronised by the duc d'Orléans as well as the prince de Condé.
Slightly later Louis XV fauteuils by Louis Cresson are in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. II, pp. 602 - 603, cat. 128), and in the Wrightsman Collection is illustrated, F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 10, cat. 6.
A further pair of chairs almost certainly originally from this suite was sold from the collection of the philanthropist Florence J. Gould, Sotheby's Monaco, 25 - 26 June 1984, lot 670. Florence Gould (1895-1983), daughter of Maximilien Lacaze, a wealthy French publisher, was born in San Francisco and trained to become an opera singer. In 1923 she married Frank Jay Gould, son of the American railroad magnate, Jay Gould. The couple moved to France where as a young woman Florence established herself by hosting what became noted artistic salons in their Avenue Malakoff home in Paris for the literary and artistic fraternity - including Roger Caillois, Salvador Dali, Louise de Vilmorin etc.