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Lot Essay
Jean-Baptiste Sené, 1748-1803, received maître 1769.
THE COMMISSION
Although without inventory numbers or labels, this magnificent bergere is undoubtedly one of the four ordered in 1789 for Madame Elisabeth's Salon de Compagnie at Montreuil. The most elaborately decorated of all the rooms at Montreuil, lit by nine windows on three different sides, the Salon de Compagnie at Montreuil and its seat-furniture rivalled even the luxurious excesses of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles. In December 1789, Madame Elizabeth wrote 'Le salon se meubloit lorsque je l'ai quitt/ae. Il /aetoit dispos/ae /ga /cetre fort agr/aeable'.
Entries in the ledger of the Garde-Meuble, commencing on the 27 March 1789, record this commission comprehensively. Now conserved in the Archives Nationales (Arch. nat., 013581,devis; 013649, m/aemoires; 013493, /aetat d'estimation), they reveal:
'1 avril 1789 - Madame Elisabeth à Montreuil. Salon de Compagnie no.54 - Séné fournira la Menuiserie préparée pour la sculpture de:
2 canapés de 8 pieds
6 têtes à têtes de 3 pieds 6 ps à carreaux
1 écran
6 chaises pour être garnies
4 voyeuses agenouillées,
6 chassis de paravent'
(Archives Nat. 01 3291, p.48).
The same order no.54 specifies carving of some of the chairs by Alexandre and some by Laurent.
The records of 1 semestre 1789 give more precise information about this suite. Sené received the sum of 1535livres in payment for the joinery (Arch. Nat 01.3649). The records of Alexandre, the sculpteur, give precise details of the carving:
Mémoire d'Alexandre, sculpteur (Arch. Nat. 01 3649)
'Pour le Salon de Madame Elisabeth à Montreuil: Deux canapés de 8 pds de long de forme carré, la pièce de devant bombé et console balustres. Les ornaments de dossiers à rais de coeurs à deux masses, perles, cordés et enfil/es, les cintures orn/aes d'un tor de fleurs et rubans de 6 pces en 6 pces et perles pour second ornement, les 8 pieds de chaque canap/ae sont /ga 12 cannelures torses, au haut 4 feuilles d'acanthe /ga revers. Les consolles /ga balustres d/aecor/aees de cannelures torses envelopp/aees de feuilles d'acanthe et fleurons antiques au pi/aedestal et astragale sur 4 faces, les t/cetes d'accotoirs de forme carr/aee et arrondie sur la face avec avant corps profil/ae et azur/ae et rosace en dessus, et aussi de rosettes sur toutes les faces des pieds, pour chaque 144=..........288
-6 t/cetes /ga t/cetes, m/ceme ornement, pour chaque
72=...................................................432
-Qautre berg/gere de m/ceme ornement, p chaque
48=...................................................192
-un /aecran /ga colonnes..............................120
-2 voyeuses,...../ga 27= chaque........................54
-les 2 autres /ga dossier en jour
En tout..............................................1166
Finally, the m/aemoire of the doreur Chatard totalled 7080 livres. This suite of seat-furniture is furthert described in its entirety in l'Etat d'Estimation des Meubles de la Maison de Madame Elisabeth /ga Montreuil arr/cet/ae le 22 septembre 1790 (Arch. Nat. 01 3493); it was valued at 32,523 livres and was sold during the Revolutionary sales.
Amongst the last commissions delivered by the Garde-Meuble before the Revolution, Madame Elizabeth's salon suite for Montreuil displays much of the same vocabulary of ornament and richnesss of carving as the celebrated suite delivered by Sen/ae and his confr/geres for Marie-Antoinette at Versailles in 1787-88. Almost as crisp as gilt-bronze, the foliate motifs recall those introduced by Fran/dcois Foliot on the suite he supplied for the cabinet int/aerieur de la Reine at Versailles in 1779, whilst the palmette motifs can also be found on the chevet du lit of Marie-Antoinette delivered by Sen/ae to Fontainebleau in 1787 (Alcouffe, ibid.).
THE UPHOLSTERY
The original upholstery of the suite, which was already owned by the Garde-Meuble and described as being lampas dessin /ga figures de ciclopes, fleuves et autres attributs, fond bleu, dessin blanc et gris, was supplied by Louis Reboul, Fontebrune et Cie. of Lyon. It had originally been ordered in 1785 for the salon des jeux de Louis XVI at Fontainebleau, and had been re-used subsequently on several occasions, most notably for Thierry de Ville-d'Avray's h/cotel du Garde-Meuble in Paris in 1787, in 1788 on a lit de repos and seat-furniture for Madame Elizabeth at Versailles, and finally for the salon of Marie-Antoinette at the Tuileries. Interestingly, one of the berg/geres in the Louvre retains some of its original upholstery beneath the current covering (Alcouffe, ibid.).
THE REST OF THE SUITE
Of the original suite, the following elements are known to this day:-
-A pair of identical berg/geres is now in the Louvre
- the canapé is reproduced in an article concerning the furniture at Montreui l in 1790 (Jeanne Guillaume in the Revue des Monuments Historiques, October-December 1971, p.81, fig. 132 and Alcouffe, op. cit , fig.72a)
- two voyeuses from the same room and with identical carving are reproduced by P. Verlet, French Royal Furniture , 1963, no.40 (then in the collection of Viscountess Templewood) and in Alcouffe, ibid, fig.72b.
THE COMMISSION
Although without inventory numbers or labels, this magnificent bergere is undoubtedly one of the four ordered in 1789 for Madame Elisabeth's Salon de Compagnie at Montreuil. The most elaborately decorated of all the rooms at Montreuil, lit by nine windows on three different sides, the Salon de Compagnie at Montreuil and its seat-furniture rivalled even the luxurious excesses of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles. In December 1789, Madame Elizabeth wrote 'Le salon se meubloit lorsque je l'ai quitt/ae. Il /aetoit dispos/ae /ga /cetre fort agr/aeable'.
Entries in the ledger of the Garde-Meuble, commencing on the 27 March 1789, record this commission comprehensively. Now conserved in the Archives Nationales (Arch. nat., 013581,devis; 013649, m/aemoires; 013493, /aetat d'estimation), they reveal:
'1 avril 1789 - Madame Elisabeth à Montreuil. Salon de Compagnie no.54 - Séné fournira la Menuiserie préparée pour la sculpture de:
2 canapés de 8 pieds
6 têtes à têtes de 3 pieds 6 ps à carreaux
1 écran
6 chaises pour être garnies
4 voyeuses agenouillées,
6 chassis de paravent'
(Archives Nat. 01 3291, p.48).
The same order no.54 specifies carving of some of the chairs by Alexandre and some by Laurent.
The records of 1 semestre 1789 give more precise information about this suite. Sené received the sum of 1535livres in payment for the joinery (Arch. Nat 01.3649). The records of Alexandre, the sculpteur, give precise details of the carving:
Mémoire d'Alexandre, sculpteur (Arch. Nat. 01 3649)
'Pour le Salon de Madame Elisabeth à Montreuil: Deux canapés de 8 pds de long de forme carré, la pièce de devant bombé et console balustres. Les ornaments de dossiers à rais de coeurs à deux masses, perles, cordés et enfil/es, les cintures orn/aes d'un tor de fleurs et rubans de 6 pces en 6 pces et perles pour second ornement, les 8 pieds de chaque canap/ae sont /ga 12 cannelures torses, au haut 4 feuilles d'acanthe /ga revers. Les consolles /ga balustres d/aecor/aees de cannelures torses envelopp/aees de feuilles d'acanthe et fleurons antiques au pi/aedestal et astragale sur 4 faces, les t/cetes d'accotoirs de forme carr/aee et arrondie sur la face avec avant corps profil/ae et azur/ae et rosace en dessus, et aussi de rosettes sur toutes les faces des pieds, pour chaque 144=..........288
-6 t/cetes /ga t/cetes, m/ceme ornement, pour chaque
72=...................................................432
-Qautre berg/gere de m/ceme ornement, p chaque
48=...................................................192
-un /aecran /ga colonnes..............................120
-2 voyeuses,...../ga 27= chaque........................54
-les 2 autres /ga dossier en jour
En tout..............................................1166
Finally, the m/aemoire of the doreur Chatard totalled 7080 livres. This suite of seat-furniture is furthert described in its entirety in l'Etat d'Estimation des Meubles de la Maison de Madame Elisabeth /ga Montreuil arr/cet/ae le 22 septembre 1790 (Arch. Nat. 01 3493); it was valued at 32,523 livres and was sold during the Revolutionary sales.
Amongst the last commissions delivered by the Garde-Meuble before the Revolution, Madame Elizabeth's salon suite for Montreuil displays much of the same vocabulary of ornament and richnesss of carving as the celebrated suite delivered by Sen/ae and his confr/geres for Marie-Antoinette at Versailles in 1787-88. Almost as crisp as gilt-bronze, the foliate motifs recall those introduced by Fran/dcois Foliot on the suite he supplied for the cabinet int/aerieur de la Reine at Versailles in 1779, whilst the palmette motifs can also be found on the chevet du lit of Marie-Antoinette delivered by Sen/ae to Fontainebleau in 1787 (Alcouffe, ibid.).
THE UPHOLSTERY
The original upholstery of the suite, which was already owned by the Garde-Meuble and described as being lampas dessin /ga figures de ciclopes, fleuves et autres attributs, fond bleu, dessin blanc et gris, was supplied by Louis Reboul, Fontebrune et Cie. of Lyon. It had originally been ordered in 1785 for the salon des jeux de Louis XVI at Fontainebleau, and had been re-used subsequently on several occasions, most notably for Thierry de Ville-d'Avray's h/cotel du Garde-Meuble in Paris in 1787, in 1788 on a lit de repos and seat-furniture for Madame Elizabeth at Versailles, and finally for the salon of Marie-Antoinette at the Tuileries. Interestingly, one of the berg/geres in the Louvre retains some of its original upholstery beneath the current covering (Alcouffe, ibid.).
THE REST OF THE SUITE
Of the original suite, the following elements are known to this day:-
-A pair of identical berg/geres is now in the Louvre
- the canapé is reproduced in an article concerning the furniture at Montreui l in 1790 (Jeanne Guillaume in the Revue des Monuments Historiques, October-December 1971, p.81, fig. 132 and Alcouffe, op. cit , fig.72a)
- two voyeuses from the same room and with identical carving are reproduced by P. Verlet, French Royal Furniture , 1963, no.40 (then in the collection of Viscountess Templewood) and in Alcouffe, ibid, fig.72b.