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Lot Essay
The superb rococo carving and particularly the distinctive foliate, shell and rocaille cartouche that centres the rails identifies these beautiful and generously-proportioned tabourets as part of the same suite as the spectacular pair of fauteuils formerly in the collection of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel [see illustration] that was subsequently given to the collections of the château de Versailles by Antenor Patiño in 1955 (Versailles accession no. OA9604-5). A single chair from this suite had already been acquired in 1914 by the Victoria & Albert Museum from the executors of J.F. Fitzhenry (Museum number W.15-1914) and a fourth chair is in a private collection in France.
The naturalistic, asymmetrical carving and the manner in which the structural elements flow into each other without separation reflect the influence of the French designer Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), and the distinctive rocaille shell motif to the centre of each rail is particularly related to a design by Meissonier, of circa 1734-5, which was realised in a canapé made for Count Bielenski (see B.G.B. Pallot, The Art of the Chair in eighteenth-century France, Paris, 1989, p. 122).
Neither these tabourets nor any of the four known fauteuils from this suite are stamped and they probably date from before 1743 when Parisian furniture makers were first required to stamp their work. However, their virtuoso execution and superb carved detail allow an attribution to the menuisier brothers Nicolas Tilliard (1676-1752) and Jean-Baptiste Tilliard (1686-1766). Belonging to one of the most celebrated family of menuisiers, they worked for an illustrious clientéle including the Prince de Soubise, the Duchesse de Parme and the Duchesse de Mazarin. Jean-Baptiste I Tilliard was appointed maître-menuisier du Garde-Meuble du Roi in 1728 and his son succeeded him in 1766.
The naturalistic, asymmetrical carving and the manner in which the structural elements flow into each other without separation reflect the influence of the French designer Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), and the distinctive rocaille shell motif to the centre of each rail is particularly related to a design by Meissonier, of circa 1734-5, which was realised in a canapé made for Count Bielenski (see B.G.B. Pallot, The Art of the Chair in eighteenth-century France, Paris, 1989, p. 122).
Neither these tabourets nor any of the four known fauteuils from this suite are stamped and they probably date from before 1743 when Parisian furniture makers were first required to stamp their work. However, their virtuoso execution and superb carved detail allow an attribution to the menuisier brothers Nicolas Tilliard (1676-1752) and Jean-Baptiste Tilliard (1686-1766). Belonging to one of the most celebrated family of menuisiers, they worked for an illustrious clientéle including the Prince de Soubise, the Duchesse de Parme and the Duchesse de Mazarin. Jean-Baptiste I Tilliard was appointed maître-menuisier du Garde-Meuble du Roi in 1728 and his son succeeded him in 1766.