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Lot Essay
Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sen, matre in 1769.
This fauteuil la Reine belongs to a celebrated suite supplied for an as yet unidentified commission, of which three further fauteuils and a canap are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The marquise from this suite was in the collection of Madame de Pols, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 23-24 June 1927, lot 237.
The exquisite carving of this suite, with its finely-outlined volute-form arm-supports and Ionic capitals to the legs is remarkably similar in execution to several sets delivered by Sen to the Royal family in the late 1780s. One common feature is the Ionic capitals of the legs which appears on the suite made for the cabinet de toilette of Marie-Antoinette at the chteau de Saint-Cloud (illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Sige Franais, Paris, 1973, no.238). It also appears as a detail on a fauteuil supplied by Sen and carved by Rgnier in 1787 for Louis XVI's bedchamber at Saint-Cloud (illustrated in P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Franais, vol. I, Paris, 1990, No. 36, pl. LI). However, it is interesting to note that a fauteuil of very similar form with an arched rectangular back, downswept arms and Ionic capitals on the legs was executed by Georges Jacob in 1780 for the Garde-Meuble, and this is now at the chteau de Fontainebleau (illustrated in M. Jarry, op. cit., no. 190).
The elegant neoclassical form of the chair and the detail of the Ionic capital appear in a drawing published in the Cabinet des Modes in 1786, together with a chair and a bed designed for the same suite (illustrated in Comte de Salverte, Les Meuble Franais d'Aprs Les Ornemanistes de 1660 1789, Paris, 1930, pl. XLVII). Charles Delafosse also conceived a design for a chair with legs headed by Ionic capitals (illustrated in M. Jarry, op. cit., no. 178).
This fauteuil la Reine belongs to a celebrated suite supplied for an as yet unidentified commission, of which three further fauteuils and a canap are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The marquise from this suite was in the collection of Madame de Pols, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 23-24 June 1927, lot 237.
The exquisite carving of this suite, with its finely-outlined volute-form arm-supports and Ionic capitals to the legs is remarkably similar in execution to several sets delivered by Sen to the Royal family in the late 1780s. One common feature is the Ionic capitals of the legs which appears on the suite made for the cabinet de toilette of Marie-Antoinette at the chteau de Saint-Cloud (illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Sige Franais, Paris, 1973, no.238). It also appears as a detail on a fauteuil supplied by Sen and carved by Rgnier in 1787 for Louis XVI's bedchamber at Saint-Cloud (illustrated in P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Franais, vol. I, Paris, 1990, No. 36, pl. LI). However, it is interesting to note that a fauteuil of very similar form with an arched rectangular back, downswept arms and Ionic capitals on the legs was executed by Georges Jacob in 1780 for the Garde-Meuble, and this is now at the chteau de Fontainebleau (illustrated in M. Jarry, op. cit., no. 190).
The elegant neoclassical form of the chair and the detail of the Ionic capital appear in a drawing published in the Cabinet des Modes in 1786, together with a chair and a bed designed for the same suite (illustrated in Comte de Salverte, Les Meuble Franais d'Aprs Les Ornemanistes de 1660 1789, Paris, 1930, pl. XLVII). Charles Delafosse also conceived a design for a chair with legs headed by Ionic capitals (illustrated in M. Jarry, op. cit., no. 178).