Lot Essay
This set of chairs is conceived in the Dutch Louis XVI style of the late 1780s or early 1790s. `Genuine' French furniture was in fact imported in such large quantities into the Netherlands, that Dutch cabinet-makers attemped to counteract this threat to their livelihood, by emulating the fashionable French style. The most celebrated cabinet-makers working in this style were Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), who was based in The Hague and Andries Bongen (ca.1732-1792), whose atelier was situated in Amsterdam. It is interesting that both these furniture-makers were of German origin, and that they were among the first foreign cabinet-makers to revive the art of floral marquetry in the Netherlands in the 1760s. (R.J. Baarsen, ``In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag', Matthijs Horrix (1735-1809), een meubelmaker in Den Haag in de 2de helft van de 18de eeuw', Oud Holland 107 (1993), pp. 161-170.)
The interest in French ébénisterie probably reached a climax after 1750, whereas French chairs were already imported in large numbers in the 1730s. This immediately encouraged Dutch chair-makers to copy desirable French models, in order to cater to their fashion-conscience clientèle. Despite the fact that these chairs are only distantly related to French chairs, they were generally referred to as such. Even when the Haarlem chair-maker Petrus Josephus Honoré supplied the Regents' chamber in Teylers Hofje with a set of eighteen mahogany chairs in 1789, which are unmistakably Dutch, he invoiced them as `mahogany French chairs, made entirely in the French style with hollow backs and curved seats' (J.R. ter Molen, `De regentenvertrekken van Teylers Hofje te Haarlem', Antiek 15 (1980-1981), p. 320 and 338)
Additionally chair-makers, working in the French style, referred to themselves as `French' chair-makers. The first to do so may have been Jan Emans (active before 1737-1760), who already promoted himself in this way in an advertisement on 9 may 1737 in the `Amsterdamse Courant'. (R.J. Baarsen, `French furniture in Amsterdam in 1771', Furniture History 29 (1993), p. 168 and note 24)
The present chairs are closely related to a large set of mahogany chairs, possibly executed by the celebrated Amsterdam furniture-maker Johan Breytspraak (ca.1735-1795), of which ten are currently in the office of H.M. Queen Beatrix at Palace Huis ten Bosch, and of which eight were sold anonymously in these Rooms, 17 December 1997, lot 350, (NLG 94.562).
See illustration
The interest in French ébénisterie probably reached a climax after 1750, whereas French chairs were already imported in large numbers in the 1730s. This immediately encouraged Dutch chair-makers to copy desirable French models, in order to cater to their fashion-conscience clientèle. Despite the fact that these chairs are only distantly related to French chairs, they were generally referred to as such. Even when the Haarlem chair-maker Petrus Josephus Honoré supplied the Regents' chamber in Teylers Hofje with a set of eighteen mahogany chairs in 1789, which are unmistakably Dutch, he invoiced them as `mahogany French chairs, made entirely in the French style with hollow backs and curved seats' (J.R. ter Molen, `De regentenvertrekken van Teylers Hofje te Haarlem', Antiek 15 (1980-1981), p. 320 and 338)
Additionally chair-makers, working in the French style, referred to themselves as `French' chair-makers. The first to do so may have been Jan Emans (active before 1737-1760), who already promoted himself in this way in an advertisement on 9 may 1737 in the `Amsterdamse Courant'. (R.J. Baarsen, `French furniture in Amsterdam in 1771', Furniture History 29 (1993), p. 168 and note 24)
The present chairs are closely related to a large set of mahogany chairs, possibly executed by the celebrated Amsterdam furniture-maker Johan Breytspraak (ca.1735-1795), of which ten are currently in the office of H.M. Queen Beatrix at Palace Huis ten Bosch, and of which eight were sold anonymously in these Rooms, 17 December 1997, lot 350, (NLG 94.562).
See illustration