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Lot Essay
With their foliate-wrapped reeded frames, these superb giltwood and St Cyr needlework fauteuils are very closely related to the celebrated suite of seat-furniture commissioned around 1715 by Antoine Crozat, marquis du Chatel (1655-1738). A pair of fauteuils from this suite, formerly from the collection of comte Robert-Henry de Caumont La Force, are in the Louvre (B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 2003, vol. II, no. 5, p. 33) and a canapé and four fauteuils were sold Christie's, Monaco, 7 December 1987, lot 116. The design of the Crozat suite, but also of the present fauteuils, is based on a drawing by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1693-1750) now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
These fauteuils were originally part of a much larger set, of which ten together with a canapé were sold from the collection of Mme d'Yvon, in 1892, and again in 1936 from the collection of François Coty at the château de Puy d'Artigny and the Pavillon Du Barry à Louveciennes, when they entered the celebrated Seligmann collection. The canapé and a pair of fauteuils were acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, p. 101, fig. 84). Four fauteuils were sold in the 1960s to M. Rossignol, which were sold Ader, Picard, Tajan, 17 March 1988, lot 58 (FF. 2.150.000).
In the 1892 Yvon catalogue, all the fauteuils from this famous series were described as Louis XIV, but more recent examination has proved that some are in fact early 18th Century, whereas others were added to the set in the second half of the 19th Century. All the superb St. Cyr metal thread and needlework date from the Louis XIV period, and are among the finest examples of French needlework. One of them remains on its original frame, whereas three frames were added to receive the earlier needlework, probably in the second half of the 19th century, when tapestry and needlework-covered seat-furniture was much sought after by the greatest collectors of 18th Century French furniture. Other 19th Century fauteuils of this sumptuous model were sold from the collection of Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild, Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 200 (£ 419,500), which had 18th Century Beauvais tapestry covers.
These fauteuils were originally part of a much larger set, of which ten together with a canapé were sold from the collection of Mme d'Yvon, in 1892, and again in 1936 from the collection of François Coty at the château de Puy d'Artigny and the Pavillon Du Barry à Louveciennes, when they entered the celebrated Seligmann collection. The canapé and a pair of fauteuils were acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, p. 101, fig. 84). Four fauteuils were sold in the 1960s to M. Rossignol, which were sold Ader, Picard, Tajan, 17 March 1988, lot 58 (FF. 2.150.000).
In the 1892 Yvon catalogue, all the fauteuils from this famous series were described as Louis XIV, but more recent examination has proved that some are in fact early 18th Century, whereas others were added to the set in the second half of the 19th Century. All the superb St. Cyr metal thread and needlework date from the Louis XIV period, and are among the finest examples of French needlework. One of them remains on its original frame, whereas three frames were added to receive the earlier needlework, probably in the second half of the 19th century, when tapestry and needlework-covered seat-furniture was much sought after by the greatest collectors of 18th Century French furniture. Other 19th Century fauteuils of this sumptuous model were sold from the collection of Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild, Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 200 (£ 419,500), which had 18th Century Beauvais tapestry covers.