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拍品專文
Jean Gourdin, known as Gourdin Père, maître-menuisier in 1714.
The sculptural quality of the carving of these exceptional fauteuils, with sinuous trailing vines and rocaille, combined with the fluid but slightly restrained naturalism of their design, is typical of the ‘symmetrical rocaille’ of circa 1750-60 (B. Pallot et al., 18th Century Birth of Design: Furniture Masterpieces, 1650 to 1790, exh. cat., Paris, 2014, p. 127, cat. 27).
This pair of fauteuils is from a suite of at least six known: the present pair was sold together with a second pair at Christie’s, London, 5 July 2001, lots 170 and 171, formerly in the Roberto Polo collection; and the third pair previously in the collection of Antenor Patiño, from his hôtel in the Avenue Foch, Paris, was sold from the Isabelle Goldsmith Collection, Christie’s, London, 12 December 1996, lot 150. Such is the sumptuous quality of these fauteuils that the Goldsmith pair was exhibited at château de Versailles in '18th Century Birth of Design: Furniture Masterpieces, 1650-1790', October 2014 to February 2015.
JEAN GOURDIN (C.1690-1764)
The suite was executed the celebrated menuisier Jean Gourdin, dit Gourdin Père. Appointed maître-menuisier in 1714 and established in the rue de Cléry by the sign of 'Saint Jacques', Gourdin was patronised by marquis de Bercy (1678-1742) and the duchesse de Mazarin whose residence on the rue de Varenne was redesigned by Nicolas Pineau circa 1737. Flourishing until 1764, Gourdin employed two stamps during his long career. The first, I.G., served until circa 1748, when his son Jean-Baptiste Gourdin (maître in 1748) joined his atelier at the sign of the 'Nom de Jesus', rue de Cléry; thereafter he used the stamp PERE GOURDIN. Gourdin stamped a closely-related though slightly less exuberant set of six fauteuils with his stamp I.G., dating them just earlier than the present fauteuils (sold Christie’s, London, 15 June 1995, lots 16-18).
NICOLAS & DOMINIQUE PINEAU
The fauteuils bear close resemblance to designs by the ornemanistes and dessinateurs du Roi Nicolas and Dominique Pineau, whose drawing on two pages of a notebook from the Tessin Collection in the National Museum, Stockholm, depicts an extremely closely related sculptural fauteuil. The relationship between comte Tessin and the frères Pineau was first revealed in 1891 by Emile de Bias who published a collection of Pineau drawings, and further examined in Leon Deshairs's 1911 publication les dessins du Musée et de la Bibliothèque des arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Pavillon de Marsan : XVIIIe siècle, époque de Louis XV : Nicolas et Dominique Pineau. Given the connection between Pineau and Gourdin, via their mutual client the duchesse de Mazarin, it is not surprising that the influence of Pineau was evident in Gourdin's oeuvre; furthermore records state that Pineau ordered two 'lits à la colonne' for his own use from the menuisier in 1755.
THE MARQUIS DE VOYER AND THE CHATEAU D'ASNIERES
A further significant patron of both Pineau and Gourdin was Marc-René, marquis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1721-82) who was the eldest son of the comte d'Argenson (1696-1764), Louis XV's Secretary of State for War, and was appointed Lieutenant General to the King's armies. In 1750 he commissioned the architect Jacques Hardouin Mansard de Sagonne to rebuild the château d'Asnières, former residence of the Regent's mistress the comtesse de Parabère, on the banks of the Seine. A passionate collector and important patron of the bronzier and sculpteur Duplessis, the marquis de Voyer commissioned Nicolas Pineau, to design for the interiors and Gourdin to produce the furniture, which totalled the considerable sum of 1,791 livres in 1757.
These fauteuils may well be part of this commission, recorded for the salon at Asnières (B. Pons, Grands Décors Français 1650-1800, Paris, 1999, p. 276):
'deux ottomanes
quatre petits canapés à deux places
huit fauteuils... le tout de velours ciselé le plus à la mode blanc, vert, rouge, et jaune, les bois tous dorés...3600 livre'.
A virtually identical fauteuil, which displays the very unusual and distinctive rocaille joint between armrest and seat, is depicted in the portrait of M. et Mme. Faventines de Fontenille by Jean Valade at the château de Maisons-Lafitte (inv. ML606). The fauteuil depicted is also upholstered with foliate-patterned turquoise silk similar to the lampas broché on these chairs.
The sculptural quality of the carving of these exceptional fauteuils, with sinuous trailing vines and rocaille, combined with the fluid but slightly restrained naturalism of their design, is typical of the ‘symmetrical rocaille’ of circa 1750-60 (B. Pallot et al., 18th Century Birth of Design: Furniture Masterpieces, 1650 to 1790, exh. cat., Paris, 2014, p. 127, cat. 27).
This pair of fauteuils is from a suite of at least six known: the present pair was sold together with a second pair at Christie’s, London, 5 July 2001, lots 170 and 171, formerly in the Roberto Polo collection; and the third pair previously in the collection of Antenor Patiño, from his hôtel in the Avenue Foch, Paris, was sold from the Isabelle Goldsmith Collection, Christie’s, London, 12 December 1996, lot 150. Such is the sumptuous quality of these fauteuils that the Goldsmith pair was exhibited at château de Versailles in '18th Century Birth of Design: Furniture Masterpieces, 1650-1790', October 2014 to February 2015.
JEAN GOURDIN (C.1690-1764)
The suite was executed the celebrated menuisier Jean Gourdin, dit Gourdin Père. Appointed maître-menuisier in 1714 and established in the rue de Cléry by the sign of 'Saint Jacques', Gourdin was patronised by marquis de Bercy (1678-1742) and the duchesse de Mazarin whose residence on the rue de Varenne was redesigned by Nicolas Pineau circa 1737. Flourishing until 1764, Gourdin employed two stamps during his long career. The first, I.G., served until circa 1748, when his son Jean-Baptiste Gourdin (maître in 1748) joined his atelier at the sign of the 'Nom de Jesus', rue de Cléry; thereafter he used the stamp PERE GOURDIN. Gourdin stamped a closely-related though slightly less exuberant set of six fauteuils with his stamp I.G., dating them just earlier than the present fauteuils (sold Christie’s, London, 15 June 1995, lots 16-18).
NICOLAS & DOMINIQUE PINEAU
The fauteuils bear close resemblance to designs by the ornemanistes and dessinateurs du Roi Nicolas and Dominique Pineau, whose drawing on two pages of a notebook from the Tessin Collection in the National Museum, Stockholm, depicts an extremely closely related sculptural fauteuil. The relationship between comte Tessin and the frères Pineau was first revealed in 1891 by Emile de Bias who published a collection of Pineau drawings, and further examined in Leon Deshairs's 1911 publication les dessins du Musée et de la Bibliothèque des arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Pavillon de Marsan : XVIIIe siècle, époque de Louis XV : Nicolas et Dominique Pineau. Given the connection between Pineau and Gourdin, via their mutual client the duchesse de Mazarin, it is not surprising that the influence of Pineau was evident in Gourdin's oeuvre; furthermore records state that Pineau ordered two 'lits à la colonne' for his own use from the menuisier in 1755.
THE MARQUIS DE VOYER AND THE CHATEAU D'ASNIERES
A further significant patron of both Pineau and Gourdin was Marc-René, marquis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1721-82) who was the eldest son of the comte d'Argenson (1696-1764), Louis XV's Secretary of State for War, and was appointed Lieutenant General to the King's armies. In 1750 he commissioned the architect Jacques Hardouin Mansard de Sagonne to rebuild the château d'Asnières, former residence of the Regent's mistress the comtesse de Parabère, on the banks of the Seine. A passionate collector and important patron of the bronzier and sculpteur Duplessis, the marquis de Voyer commissioned Nicolas Pineau, to design for the interiors and Gourdin to produce the furniture, which totalled the considerable sum of 1,791 livres in 1757.
These fauteuils may well be part of this commission, recorded for the salon at Asnières (B. Pons, Grands Décors Français 1650-1800, Paris, 1999, p. 276):
'deux ottomanes
quatre petits canapés à deux places
huit fauteuils... le tout de velours ciselé le plus à la mode blanc, vert, rouge, et jaune, les bois tous dorés...3600 livre'.
A virtually identical fauteuil, which displays the very unusual and distinctive rocaille joint between armrest and seat, is depicted in the portrait of M. et Mme. Faventines de Fontenille by Jean Valade at the château de Maisons-Lafitte (inv. ML606). The fauteuil depicted is also upholstered with foliate-patterned turquoise silk similar to the lampas broché on these chairs.