.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A virtually identical Savonnerie bench-cover in the Musée du Louvre is illustrated in P. Verlet, Savonnerie: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, London, 1982, p. 329, fig. 202.
According to Verlet, a set of bench-covers of similar description were delivered to the Garde-Meuble circa 1705 as:-
1914.- Vingt-quatre dessus de tabourets de ouvrage de laine, fabrique de la Savonnerie, représentant au milieu un ornement à la mosaïque, aux quatre coins une vase de fleurs au naturel, par les milieux dex petits escureuils et trois perroquets, sur fonds bleu, entouré d'un compartiment jaune et brun, avec branches et feuillages verds sur fonds rouge, let tout enfermé d'un listel jaune, contenant chacun deux tiers en carré
Belin de Fontenay the elder is considered the designer of the rose moresque pattern with squirrels and parrots, and he is documented as such in three instances of screens and bench-covers having this design. (Ibid, p.325.)
Maison Jansen was founded by Henri Jansen in 1880. Dutch by birth, he established the decorating, furniture-making and antique-dealing firm first in Paris, and later expanding to a variety of cities around the world. The firm's glory days date back to the 1930's, when Stéphane Boudin directed the firm, and its style focused on traditional French designs, in the manner of tous les Louis. Jansen clientele consisted of the crème-de-la-crème of high society, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Agnellis, to name a few.
According to Verlet, a set of bench-covers of similar description were delivered to the Garde-Meuble circa 1705 as:-
1914.- Vingt-quatre dessus de tabourets de ouvrage de laine, fabrique de la Savonnerie, représentant au milieu un ornement à la mosaïque, aux quatre coins une vase de fleurs au naturel, par les milieux dex petits escureuils et trois perroquets, sur fonds bleu, entouré d'un compartiment jaune et brun, avec branches et feuillages verds sur fonds rouge, let tout enfermé d'un listel jaune, contenant chacun deux tiers en carré
Belin de Fontenay the elder is considered the designer of the rose moresque pattern with squirrels and parrots, and he is documented as such in three instances of screens and bench-covers having this design. (Ibid, p.325.)
Maison Jansen was founded by Henri Jansen in 1880. Dutch by birth, he established the decorating, furniture-making and antique-dealing firm first in Paris, and later expanding to a variety of cities around the world. The firm's glory days date back to the 1930's, when Stéphane Boudin directed the firm, and its style focused on traditional French designs, in the manner of tous les Louis. Jansen clientele consisted of the crème-de-la-crème of high society, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Agnellis, to name a few.