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Lot Essay
With its distinctive fond rose Gobelins tapestry covers enclosing allegorical or mythological scenes after painters like Francois Boucher (1703-1770), this suite reflects the early Neoclassical style woven at the Gobelins manufactory in the 1760's. Amongst the best documented of these is the celebrated suite supplied for George, 6th Earl of Coventry for Croome Court, Worcestershire, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in E. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, vol.1, no.57, pp.385-401). This latter suite was designed by Jean-Germain Soufflot (d.1780) to enclose pictorial medallions after Boucher, which were then woven by Maurice Jacques (d.1784), Louis Tessier (d.1781) and Jacques Neilson (d.1788).
The Maison Carlhian was founded in Paris in January 1867 by Anatole Carlhian (d.1904) and Albert Dujardin-Beaumetz (d.1906). Initially established in the rue Beaurepaire, in 1906 the sons of Anatole Carlhian, Paul and André, inherited the business and they subsequently moved it to 24 rue du Mont-Thabor. Specialising in 'menuiserie, peinture et de tapisserie', the firm owned an extensive collection of period specimen chairs, whose models they faithfully copied, and it was for the quality of their menuiserie that they were principally patronised by Duveen Brothers. Subsequently renamed 'societé Carlhian' in 1930, the firm established a New York branch and flourished until 1975.
The present chairs, placed in the staircase Hall, are just visible in the photograph of the Vestibule illustrated in T. Dell et al., The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth Century French and English Art in the Detroit nstitute of Arts, New York, 1996, p.24.
The Maison Carlhian was founded in Paris in January 1867 by Anatole Carlhian (d.1904) and Albert Dujardin-Beaumetz (d.1906). Initially established in the rue Beaurepaire, in 1906 the sons of Anatole Carlhian, Paul and André, inherited the business and they subsequently moved it to 24 rue du Mont-Thabor. Specialising in 'menuiserie, peinture et de tapisserie', the firm owned an extensive collection of period specimen chairs, whose models they faithfully copied, and it was for the quality of their menuiserie that they were principally patronised by Duveen Brothers. Subsequently renamed 'societé Carlhian' in 1930, the firm established a New York branch and flourished until 1975.
The present chairs, placed in the staircase Hall, are just visible in the photograph of the Vestibule illustrated in T. Dell et al., The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth Century French and English Art in the Detroit nstitute of Arts, New York, 1996, p.24.