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拍品專文
Jean-Baptiste Cresson, maître in 1741.
These generously proportioned fauteuils, with their sumptuous carving on the front seat rails and crests, are conceived in the style rocaille of the early Louis XV period of the 1730s and 1740s that evolved from the rigidity of the Louis XIV style. The design of the sprays and floral carving reflect a taste for asymmetry that reached the height of its popularity from 1730-1750, after which the temperament of the Rococo became more ordered and symmetrical. Their sinuous frames entwined by scrolling acanthus foliage reflect the 'pittoresque' style that had been invented by artists, architects and ornemanistes such as Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750) and Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) and praised by the artist William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, 1753.
The naturalistic, asymmetrical carving and the manner in which the structural elements flow into each other without separation epitomize the organic exuberance of the Rococo taste championed by the French designer Meissonnier. The boldly sculptural movement of his style is finely echoed in the flowering curves and scrolls of the carving, and the characteristic rocaille shell motif to the center of each rail is particularly related to a design by Meissonnier, circa 1734-5, which was realized in a canapé made for Count Bielenski and illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe en France, Paris, 1987, p. 122. Meissonnier succeeded Jean Bérain in 1725 as architecte-dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi, working as a silversmith, architect and designer.
With their distinctive pomegranate spray cartouche to the center of the seat rail, these fauteuils typify the oeuvre of the Cresson dynasty of menuisiers founded by Jean-Baptiste's father, Charles (maître in 1720) and Jean Cresson during the Règence and continued by Jean-Baptiste, Louis I, René and Michel during the first half of the 18th century. The Cressons, among the most talented menuisiers of the era, shared a workshop on the rue de Cléry au Gros Chapelet and not surprisingly, there are common traits in all their documented work. An example by Louis Cresson (maître in 1738) with a similar pomegranate motif to the seat rail is illustrated in B.G.B. Pallot, ibid, p. 118.
A closely related pair of fauteuils by Louis Cresson at Waddesdon Manor is illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. II, pp. 602 - 603, cat. 128, while a further pair, slightly less rich in design and also by Louis Cresson, in the Wrightsman Collection is illustrated in F. J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 10, cat. 6. A set of six chaises of similar overall profile by Jean-Baptiste Cresson was sold from the Patiño Collection, Sotheby's, New York, 1 November 1986, lot 110, and another pair by Jean-Baptiste Cresson is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobillier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 207.
These generously proportioned fauteuils, with their sumptuous carving on the front seat rails and crests, are conceived in the style rocaille of the early Louis XV period of the 1730s and 1740s that evolved from the rigidity of the Louis XIV style. The design of the sprays and floral carving reflect a taste for asymmetry that reached the height of its popularity from 1730-1750, after which the temperament of the Rococo became more ordered and symmetrical. Their sinuous frames entwined by scrolling acanthus foliage reflect the 'pittoresque' style that had been invented by artists, architects and ornemanistes such as Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750) and Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) and praised by the artist William Hogarth in his Analysis of Beauty, 1753.
The naturalistic, asymmetrical carving and the manner in which the structural elements flow into each other without separation epitomize the organic exuberance of the Rococo taste championed by the French designer Meissonnier. The boldly sculptural movement of his style is finely echoed in the flowering curves and scrolls of the carving, and the characteristic rocaille shell motif to the center of each rail is particularly related to a design by Meissonnier, circa 1734-5, which was realized in a canapé made for Count Bielenski and illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe en France, Paris, 1987, p. 122. Meissonnier succeeded Jean Bérain in 1725 as architecte-dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi, working as a silversmith, architect and designer.
With their distinctive pomegranate spray cartouche to the center of the seat rail, these fauteuils typify the oeuvre of the Cresson dynasty of menuisiers founded by Jean-Baptiste's father, Charles (maître in 1720) and Jean Cresson during the Règence and continued by Jean-Baptiste, Louis I, René and Michel during the first half of the 18th century. The Cressons, among the most talented menuisiers of the era, shared a workshop on the rue de Cléry au Gros Chapelet and not surprisingly, there are common traits in all their documented work. An example by Louis Cresson (maître in 1738) with a similar pomegranate motif to the seat rail is illustrated in B.G.B. Pallot, ibid, p. 118.
A closely related pair of fauteuils by Louis Cresson at Waddesdon Manor is illustrated in G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. II, pp. 602 - 603, cat. 128, while a further pair, slightly less rich in design and also by Louis Cresson, in the Wrightsman Collection is illustrated in F. J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 10, cat. 6. A set of six chaises of similar overall profile by Jean-Baptiste Cresson was sold from the Patiño Collection, Sotheby's, New York, 1 November 1986, lot 110, and another pair by Jean-Baptiste Cresson is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobillier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 207.