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拍品专文
Michel Cresson, maître in 1740.
Similarly to the previous lot, the carving on these fauteuils—most apparent around the shell motifs—is three-dimensional and sculptural, recalling the style of Nicolas Heurtaut. While the bergères are products of the rocaille symmétrisé, these fauteuils represent the rocaille symmétrisé 'classicisant', a matured Transitional style between Rococo and the goût grec. As indicated by its name, the rocaille symmétrisé classicisant is a matured, classicizing version of the symmetrical Rococo and it combines perfectly symmetrical rocaille motifs with Classical elements of the goût grec. As evidenced by these luxurious armchairs, the abovementioned shell motif is the main design element, centering the symmetry of the seat and, similarly to the cartouches on the bergères, no longer blending into an overabundance of secondary design elements. The shell motif carved so expertly in high-relief can be found in the oeuvres of the best menusiers of the time. A pair of giltwood fauteuils by Nicolas Heurtaut with almost identical shells was sold Sotheby's, New York, 20 October 2018, lot 1070 ($125,000). On the present armchairs, the motif most predictive of the Neoclassicism of the 1770s is the rosette-filled square reserve of the knees. When imagined carved in the round, this design element becomes the archetypal heading for the legs of Louis XVI style seat furniture.
CHATEAU D'APREMONT-SUR-ALLIER
Located in the Loire valley, the château d’Apremont-sur-Allier stands proudly on the bank of the Allier river. First constructed as a fortress in the Middle Ages, the building was destroyed in the late 1400s, but was eventually rebuilt and further extended in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From 1752 until the end of the century, a section of the château housed workshops of Royal glass factories. The building was again modified in the first half of the nineteenth century and finally gained its current Neo-Gothic appearance after the chatelaine of the estate, Antoinette de Saint-Sauveur, married Eugène Schneider II in 1894. Schneider was a wealthy industrialist and member of the Chambre des députés. His family's fortune was derived largely from railway construction and supplying the French army. The Schneiders were well-known connoisseurs and their collection featured eighteenth-century French porcelain, bronzes and furniture, including Joseph Baumhauer's ormolu-mounted ebony center table for Ange-Laurent de Lalive de Jully, sold Christie's, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 111. The château eventually passed to the ducal Brissac family following the marriage of Marie-Zélie (May) Schneider, daughter of Eugène and Antoinette, to Pierre de Cossé, duc de Brissac, president of the Société des amis de Versailles and a well-known writer who won the Prix Saint-Simon in 1975. Their daughter is Elvire de Cossé-Brissac, a celebrated author herself.
Similarly to the previous lot, the carving on these fauteuils—most apparent around the shell motifs—is three-dimensional and sculptural, recalling the style of Nicolas Heurtaut. While the bergères are products of the rocaille symmétrisé, these fauteuils represent the rocaille symmétrisé 'classicisant', a matured Transitional style between Rococo and the goût grec. As indicated by its name, the rocaille symmétrisé classicisant is a matured, classicizing version of the symmetrical Rococo and it combines perfectly symmetrical rocaille motifs with Classical elements of the goût grec. As evidenced by these luxurious armchairs, the abovementioned shell motif is the main design element, centering the symmetry of the seat and, similarly to the cartouches on the bergères, no longer blending into an overabundance of secondary design elements. The shell motif carved so expertly in high-relief can be found in the oeuvres of the best menusiers of the time. A pair of giltwood fauteuils by Nicolas Heurtaut with almost identical shells was sold Sotheby's, New York, 20 October 2018, lot 1070 ($125,000). On the present armchairs, the motif most predictive of the Neoclassicism of the 1770s is the rosette-filled square reserve of the knees. When imagined carved in the round, this design element becomes the archetypal heading for the legs of Louis XVI style seat furniture.
CHATEAU D'APREMONT-SUR-ALLIER
Located in the Loire valley, the château d’Apremont-sur-Allier stands proudly on the bank of the Allier river. First constructed as a fortress in the Middle Ages, the building was destroyed in the late 1400s, but was eventually rebuilt and further extended in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From 1752 until the end of the century, a section of the château housed workshops of Royal glass factories. The building was again modified in the first half of the nineteenth century and finally gained its current Neo-Gothic appearance after the chatelaine of the estate, Antoinette de Saint-Sauveur, married Eugène Schneider II in 1894. Schneider was a wealthy industrialist and member of the Chambre des députés. His family's fortune was derived largely from railway construction and supplying the French army. The Schneiders were well-known connoisseurs and their collection featured eighteenth-century French porcelain, bronzes and furniture, including Joseph Baumhauer's ormolu-mounted ebony center table for Ange-Laurent de Lalive de Jully, sold Christie's, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 111. The château eventually passed to the ducal Brissac family following the marriage of Marie-Zélie (May) Schneider, daughter of Eugène and Antoinette, to Pierre de Cossé, duc de Brissac, president of the Société des amis de Versailles and a well-known writer who won the Prix Saint-Simon in 1975. Their daughter is Elvire de Cossé-Brissac, a celebrated author herself.