BY JEAN-BAPTISTE LEBAS

Details

A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD BERGERES
By Jean-Baptiste Lebas
Each with a channelled serpentine frame, the padded back, sides and seat covered in floral burgundy cut-velvet, the toprail and seatrail carved with confronting foliate trails, with downswept channelled scrolled arms, on foliate-headed cabriole legs and scrolled feet, regilt in the 19th Century, each stamped 'I. LEBAS' (2)

Provenance

Almost certainly bought by John Alexander, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896) for Longleat, Wiltshire and by descent at Longleat.

Literature

Literature for the suite:
1896 Inventory (4th Marquess' Heirlooms), f 38 r possibly 'Two gilt frame easy chairs upholstered in olive green plush velvet furnished with cord and loose holland covers'.
J. Leyland, 'Country Homes: Longleat', Country Life Illustrated, 14 August 1897, p. 154.
C. Hussey, 'Longleat, Wiltshire-IV', Country Life, 29 April 1949, p. 991, fig. 4.
H. Granville Fell (ed.), The Connoisseur Year Book, 1951, London, p. 41, fig. V.
M. Aldrich, 'The Marquess and the Decorator', Country Life, 7 December 1989, p. 167, fig. 9.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Jean-Baptiste Lebas, maître in 1756.

Jean-Baptiste Lebas (1729-circa 1800), of the rue de Cléry, numbered among his clientele both the comtesse du Barry and the comte d'Artois. He made chairs in both the Louis XV and Louis XVI style. Both of his sons, Barthélemy and Jean-Jacques, became maîtres-ébénistes and worked with their father in the rue de Cléry.
An important set of eight fauteuils by Jean-Baptiste Lebas was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 19 May 1983, lot 76. A set of six Louis XV fauteuils also by J.-B. Lebas, with similarly floral-carved serpentined aprons, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 31 March 1977, lot 26.
A closely related pair of bergeres en gondole by Pierre Forget, was sold anonymously, Christie's Monaco, 16-17 June 2001, lot 642.

More from FURNITURE, PORCELAIN AND SILVER FROM LONGLEAT

View All