Lot Essay
With their robust frame, foliate crowns and elaborate fruiting laurel-carved seats, these fauteuils boast an almost regal appearance. The idiosyncratic use of tores de laurier to the seats, foliate-headed cresting and rather ambitious model are reminisicent of the oeuvre of Claude-Etienne Michard (1732-1794, maître in 1757). Even though little is know about the menuisier, a significant number of seats by Michard once formed part of prestigious private collections such as those of the Duc de Choiseul for the château de Chanteloup or the duc de la Rochefoucauld d'Enville for the château de la Roche-Guyon (P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 1998, p. 568). Seats by the menuisier which were formerly in the collection of the duc de Choiseul include a pair of fauteuils bearing the inventory brand of the château de Chanteloup sold at Christie's, Monaco, 17 June 2000, lot 277 (FF399,500 with premium) and a fauteuil de bureau, formerly in the Jacques Doucet collection and now in the Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris (ill. Comte F. de Salverte, Les Ebénistes du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 1953, p.223, PL. XLVIII).
A closely related pair of white-painted fauteuils by Michard, formerly in the Collection Murat at the château de Nointel, was sold from the Akram Ojjeh Collection at Christie's, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 56 (FF364,500 with premium), while a further related fauteuil by the menuisier was sold from the collection of M. Mica Salabert, Ader Tajan, Paris, 8 June 1993, lot 82.
A closely related pair of white-painted fauteuils by Michard, formerly in the Collection Murat at the château de Nointel, was sold from the Akram Ojjeh Collection at Christie's, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 56 (FF364,500 with premium), while a further related fauteuil by the menuisier was sold from the collection of M. Mica Salabert, Ader Tajan, Paris, 8 June 1993, lot 82.