Lot Essay
Claude Chevigny, maître in 1768.
With its balanced proportions and boldly-carved neoclassical ornament, this bergère is a superb example of Claude Chevigny's most accomplished work of the 1770s. During the first years of his career Chevigny took part in the celebrated commission of early-neoclassical furniture to the duchesse d'Enville's château de la Roche-Guyon (1768-1770), supplying rare fauteuils with columnar legs (Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1987, lot 189). Subsequently, the menuisier supplied a magnificent suite of seat-furniture with Beauvais tapestry covers to hôtel de Choiseul Praslin, which descended with the Princes of Beauvau-Craon at the château de Haroué, until sold Sotheby's Monaco, 12 December 1988, lot 41. The current bergère is - both in proportions and quality of carving - closely related to the Haroué seat-furniture.
With its balanced proportions and boldly-carved neoclassical ornament, this bergère is a superb example of Claude Chevigny's most accomplished work of the 1770s. During the first years of his career Chevigny took part in the celebrated commission of early-neoclassical furniture to the duchesse d'Enville's château de la Roche-Guyon (1768-1770), supplying rare fauteuils with columnar legs (Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1987, lot 189). Subsequently, the menuisier supplied a magnificent suite of seat-furniture with Beauvais tapestry covers to hôtel de Choiseul Praslin, which descended with the Princes of Beauvau-Craon at the château de Haroué, until sold Sotheby's Monaco, 12 December 1988, lot 41. The current bergère is - both in proportions and quality of carving - closely related to the Haroué seat-furniture.