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Lot Essay
This serpentine screen, together with so much of the exceptional Louis XV French furniture and Sèvres porcelain at Woburn, was probably acquired by John, 4th Duke of Bedford (d.1771) following his appointment as Ambassador to the Court of Louis XV in 1762. Although his successor, the 5th Duke, continued to acquire French furniture through the marchand-merciers Daguerre and Lignereux from 1787, and his brother the 6th Duke directly in Paris following the Peace of Amiens in 1803, their tastes were always in the vanguard of fashion.
A paravent of similar spirit, although serpentine in form and more richly carved , was supplied to the banquier de la Cour Paris de Montmartel between 1760-66. Illustrated in situ in Cathelin's engraving of 1775, it was described in a contemporary inventory as 'Un autre paravent aussi de quatre feuilles cintrées de satin gris de perle, brodé en soie des Indes de différentes couleurs, et deux paravents doublés de damas vert dans leurs chassis de bois sculpté doré (sold from the Lagerfeld Collection, Christie's Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 20).
A paravent of similar spirit, although serpentine in form and more richly carved , was supplied to the banquier de la Cour Paris de Montmartel between 1760-66. Illustrated in situ in Cathelin's engraving of 1775, it was described in a contemporary inventory as 'Un autre paravent aussi de quatre feuilles cintrées de satin gris de perle, brodé en soie des Indes de différentes couleurs, et deux paravents doublés de damas vert dans leurs chassis de bois sculpté doré (sold from the Lagerfeld Collection, Christie's Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 20).