BY CLAUDE I SENE, MID-18TH CENTURY

With their finely carved sinuous frames these chairs illustrate the synergy of aesthetic sensibility and creative skill prevalent in French menuiserie of the mid-18th century.

The fauteuils bear the stamp of Claude I Sené (1724-1792) and typify his production as one of the most talented members of an active dynasty of Parisian menuisiers. Characterised by finely shaped seat-rails and gracefully in-curving legs, the fauteuils are of an impressive scale and the generosity of their proportions implies a commission from an important patron. The fauteuils were almost certainly part of a larger suite of seat furniture as the present pair are each numbered ‘1’ and ‘4’.

Son of the menuisier, Jean Sené, Claude I married the sister of Jean-Etienne Saint-Georges, a colleague, and continued his activity until 1780. His two sons were also menuisiers, the younger Claude II Sené and the older Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené, both of whom were awarded the title of maître in 1769. They produced chairs exclusively in the neoclassical style of the reign of Louis XVI and Claude II Sené became one of the most sought-after suppliers to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne and Queen Marie-Antoinette. The work of Claude I Sené consists mainly of Louis XV style seats such as the present examples, even if he undoubtedly made a number of Louis XVI style chairs whose authorship has not always been attributed to him because of numerous confusions with the stamp of his son Claude II.