.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Georges Jacob, maître in 1765.
THE UPHOLSTERY
The distinctive embroidery of these chairs is of a type known as satin brodé aux Indes. It seems that the term refers more to a kind of embroidery than to a place of origin. The original embroidery, whose motifs were inspired by designs of the Fables de la Fontaine and probably executed for the Manufacture d'Aubusson (a set of this design was sold Hôtel Drouot, 16-17 June, 1911, lot 212), here has been restored, cut and re-upholstered onto a modern silk backing. This embroidery closely resembles that on a suite of six chairs and two bergères by Nicolas Quinibert Foliot from the collections of the duc de Penthièvre at the château de Chanteloup and previously at the château de Sceaux, now at Waddesdon Manor, see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, 1974, vol. II, pp. 596-601. The Foliot suite is described in an inventory at Chanteloup in the cabinet of apartment no. 2: 'deux bergères à carreaux six chaises en plein, à châsis et gros de Tours broché fond blanc représentant les fables de la Fontaine. Les bois sculptés rechampis en or'. On 3 March 1794 they were again mentioned being 'couverts de gros de Naples, fond blanc, brodé aux Indes, représentant les Fables de La Fontaine.' The duc de Penthièvre must have had a particular fondness for this type of embroidery as in the salon of the château de Chanteloup there were twenty-one chairs upholstered in yellow satin des Indes, and the duc's oratory was also furnished with 'gros de Naples brodé fond soucy Fables de La Fontaine'. Furthermore, in July of 1778, the embroiderers Bauduin and Boucher delivered for the duc's apartment at the château de Sceaux a 'meuble de satin blanc brodé de soie créme'. This set was executed by Georges Jacob, who was the menuisier of the duc. One of the armchairs in this set was also embroidered with a subject taken from Fables de la Fontaine: The stork and the fox. Two chairs were decorated with birds and garden trophies and the screen was embellished with a panel decorated with goats and sheep. In January of that same year these embroiderers also supplied more than 16000 livres of embroideries with motifs of knotted bunches of silk for a room at Sceaux.
THE ROTHSCHILD PROVENANCE
It seems likely that the label on the canapé, which originally formed a suite with these chairs, relates to the hôtel of Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868), who died in his Parisian home at 19 rue Lafitte. It is unconfirmed whether this suite was already in the collection of James Mayer de Rothschild, but it is certain that it was owned by his son, Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905). The origins of the French Rothschild art collections and the wealth that allowed them to be both acquired and built go back to Baron James, the youngest of the five brothers of the second generation of Rothschilds. It was James who helped found MM de Rothschild Frères in Paris in 1817 and who after the death of his London-based brother Nathan in 1836, became primus inter pares, the foremost member of his generation in the family. His marriage to the highly intelligent, cultured and beautiful Betty in 1824 coincided with the purchase and development of major properties in and around Paris. It was probably the château de Ferrières that was his most majestic construction. Purchased in 1829, it was transformed between 1853-1863 by Joseph Paxton. The design of the interior was left to Eugène Lami who worked closely with Baroness Betty. Upon James's death in 1868, Alphonse inherited not only the management of the Rothschild concerns in France, but also the château de Ferrières as well as his Paris residence at 2 rue Saint-Florentin. Although Alphonse bought a certain number of Old Master pictures, it was towards the decorative arts that he concentrated his most assiduous pursuits. The extent and continuity of Alphonse's purchasing is borne out by the comptes courants, or accounts ledgers, of the French Rothschilds from 1870-1905 which show that Alphonse continued to add to his collection with as much energy and as copiously in the last years of his life as he did in earlier years.
THE UPHOLSTERY
The distinctive embroidery of these chairs is of a type known as satin brodé aux Indes. It seems that the term refers more to a kind of embroidery than to a place of origin. The original embroidery, whose motifs were inspired by designs of the Fables de la Fontaine and probably executed for the Manufacture d'Aubusson (a set of this design was sold Hôtel Drouot, 16-17 June, 1911, lot 212), here has been restored, cut and re-upholstered onto a modern silk backing. This embroidery closely resembles that on a suite of six chairs and two bergères by Nicolas Quinibert Foliot from the collections of the duc de Penthièvre at the château de Chanteloup and previously at the château de Sceaux, now at Waddesdon Manor, see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, 1974, vol. II, pp. 596-601. The Foliot suite is described in an inventory at Chanteloup in the cabinet of apartment no. 2: 'deux bergères à carreaux six chaises en plein, à châsis et gros de Tours broché fond blanc représentant les fables de la Fontaine. Les bois sculptés rechampis en or'. On 3 March 1794 they were again mentioned being 'couverts de gros de Naples, fond blanc, brodé aux Indes, représentant les Fables de La Fontaine.' The duc de Penthièvre must have had a particular fondness for this type of embroidery as in the salon of the château de Chanteloup there were twenty-one chairs upholstered in yellow satin des Indes, and the duc's oratory was also furnished with 'gros de Naples brodé fond soucy Fables de La Fontaine'. Furthermore, in July of 1778, the embroiderers Bauduin and Boucher delivered for the duc's apartment at the château de Sceaux a 'meuble de satin blanc brodé de soie créme'. This set was executed by Georges Jacob, who was the menuisier of the duc. One of the armchairs in this set was also embroidered with a subject taken from Fables de la Fontaine: The stork and the fox. Two chairs were decorated with birds and garden trophies and the screen was embellished with a panel decorated with goats and sheep. In January of that same year these embroiderers also supplied more than 16000 livres of embroideries with motifs of knotted bunches of silk for a room at Sceaux.
THE ROTHSCHILD PROVENANCE
It seems likely that the label on the canapé, which originally formed a suite with these chairs, relates to the hôtel of Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868), who died in his Parisian home at 19 rue Lafitte. It is unconfirmed whether this suite was already in the collection of James Mayer de Rothschild, but it is certain that it was owned by his son, Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905). The origins of the French Rothschild art collections and the wealth that allowed them to be both acquired and built go back to Baron James, the youngest of the five brothers of the second generation of Rothschilds. It was James who helped found MM de Rothschild Frères in Paris in 1817 and who after the death of his London-based brother Nathan in 1836, became primus inter pares, the foremost member of his generation in the family. His marriage to the highly intelligent, cultured and beautiful Betty in 1824 coincided with the purchase and development of major properties in and around Paris. It was probably the château de Ferrières that was his most majestic construction. Purchased in 1829, it was transformed between 1853-1863 by Joseph Paxton. The design of the interior was left to Eugène Lami who worked closely with Baroness Betty. Upon James's death in 1868, Alphonse inherited not only the management of the Rothschild concerns in France, but also the château de Ferrières as well as his Paris residence at 2 rue Saint-Florentin. Although Alphonse bought a certain number of Old Master pictures, it was towards the decorative arts that he concentrated his most assiduous pursuits. The extent and continuity of Alphonse's purchasing is borne out by the comptes courants, or accounts ledgers, of the French Rothschilds from 1870-1905 which show that Alphonse continued to add to his collection with as much energy and as copiously in the last years of his life as he did in earlier years.