AFTER A DESIGN BY JEAN-CHARLES DELAFOSSE, CIRCA 1765-70

The bold early neoclassicism of this lot helps us date it firmly to the 1760s. Wonderfully creative and intriguingly revolutionary, this lot’s design was clearly inspired by the oeuvre of pioneers of the goût grec such as Jean-Charles Delafosse and Ennemond Alexandre Petitot. In fact, the design of an almost identical chair simply denoted as “Italian” appears in Oeuvre de J. Ch. Delafosse: Meubles. Interestingly, the following plate depicts a stylistically similar lit à l'Italienne. As the present lot and the bed illustrated share many design elements, they reflected of what was considered of “Italian taste” by Delafosse and his contemporaries. Such “Italian” daybed based on the abovementioned lit à l'Italienne sold from the Lagerfeld Collection, Christie’s, Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 357.