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拍品專文
Jean-Baptiste Demay, maître in 1784.
In the second half of the 18th century, craftsmen were forced to seek inspiration from unfolding historic events to satisfy a clientele increasingly hungry for novelty. The first ever airborn flight, carried out by the Montgolfier brothers on 19 September 1783, was just such a momentuous occasion - and led to an explosion in the production by horlogers, faienciers and jewellers of anything emblazoned with a Montgolfier baloon ornament. It was the menuisier Jean-Baptiste Demay, however, who brilliantly applied this decorative motif to form chairbacks.
The ribbon-tied medallion to the centre of the splat allowed Demay to personalise the model with a monogram - in this case 'PJ'. Further chairs with differing monograms include those sold in the vente Beurdeley, Paris, March 1898, no.181, and another sold from the collection of Richard Penard y Fernandez, Paris, Palais Galliéra, 7 December 1960, lot 107. This latter chair is almost certainly that with an 'M' monogram discussed in F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1960, no.188, which was reputedly from a set of twelve presented to the brothers Montgolfier by the City of Paris in 1783 in celebration of their first flight; however, this also bore the Demay's stamp, which he could not have used until he received his maîtrise the following year. In view of the date of the Montgolfier flight and Demay's maîtrise of 1784, the Wildenstein fauteuil can also be firmly dated to that same year.
Interestingly, in 1784 Georges Jacob supplied a similar suite of chaises à la montgolfière to Marie-Antoinette for her use at the Tuileries.
A closely related pair of chaises à la montgolfière by Demay are in the musée Carnavalet and are discussed in A. Forray-Carlier, Le Mobilier du Musée Carnavalet, Dijon, 2000, no. 75, pp.198-99.
In the second half of the 18th century, craftsmen were forced to seek inspiration from unfolding historic events to satisfy a clientele increasingly hungry for novelty. The first ever airborn flight, carried out by the Montgolfier brothers on 19 September 1783, was just such a momentuous occasion - and led to an explosion in the production by horlogers, faienciers and jewellers of anything emblazoned with a Montgolfier baloon ornament. It was the menuisier Jean-Baptiste Demay, however, who brilliantly applied this decorative motif to form chairbacks.
The ribbon-tied medallion to the centre of the splat allowed Demay to personalise the model with a monogram - in this case 'PJ'. Further chairs with differing monograms include those sold in the vente Beurdeley, Paris, March 1898, no.181, and another sold from the collection of Richard Penard y Fernandez, Paris, Palais Galliéra, 7 December 1960, lot 107. This latter chair is almost certainly that with an 'M' monogram discussed in F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1960, no.188, which was reputedly from a set of twelve presented to the brothers Montgolfier by the City of Paris in 1783 in celebration of their first flight; however, this also bore the Demay's stamp, which he could not have used until he received his maîtrise the following year. In view of the date of the Montgolfier flight and Demay's maîtrise of 1784, the Wildenstein fauteuil can also be firmly dated to that same year.
Interestingly, in 1784 Georges Jacob supplied a similar suite of chaises à la montgolfière to Marie-Antoinette for her use at the Tuileries.
A closely related pair of chaises à la montgolfière by Demay are in the musée Carnavalet and are discussed in A. Forray-Carlier, Le Mobilier du Musée Carnavalet, Dijon, 2000, no. 75, pp.198-99.