THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD CHAISES

Details
A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD CHAISES

Each with rectangular padded back covered in associated Aubusson tapestry woven with ladies, the channelled frames carved with entrelacs, edged with ribbon-twist and surmounted by a ribbon-tied cresting, the bowed seat depicting the Fables, on channelled frames and fluted tapering legs carved with chandelles, with panelled back legs, one branded PLS DES TUILES, the other with three fleur-de-lys below a crown and TH, with inventory tags 1209, originally caned, embellished in the late 19th Century with gilding, tapestry covering and some of the decoration (2)
Provenance
The Palais des Tuileries
The Edward James Collection, West Dean Park, Sussex, sold Christie's House Sale, 2,3 and 6 June 1986, lot 83

Lot Essay

Nicolay records the second of these two brands

The Palais des Tuileries was begun in 1564 by Catherine de Medicis on a site close to the Louvre, from which it was originally separate. It was rarely occupied by French sovereigns and after Louis XV left it in 1722 it was used mainly by officials of the court. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette lived there after their enforced return to Paris from Versailles on 4 October 1789, until they were moved to the Conciergerie in 1792. Various pieces from the Garde-Meuble de la Reine were bought from other Royal châteaux for the Queen's use and some new furniture was supplied in 1790. A number of items supplied for the Queen's Apartments in 1784 have been identified: a table à écrire by Riesener from the Cabinet Intérieur (P. Verlet, French Royal Furniture, London, 1963, pp. 150-151); a table de toilette by Riesener for the Chambre de la Reine (P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, pp. 93-95); and a suite of seat furniture by Boulard, Foliot and others (ibid., pp. 126-130)

In the 19th Century the Tuileries was used as the main palace of the various French rulers. A certain amount of furniture from other Royal châteaux was used to furnish it. After the fall of the Commune in 1871, it was burnt and almost completely destroyed

A chair in the Louvre, part of a suite supplied by Sené and Regnier in 1790 for the Salon des Jeux at Compiègne, has a similar interlaced ribbon-pattern on the seat-rail (ibid., fig. 40)

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