Lot Essay
Jacques Audry, matre in 1777.
A Louis XVI giltwood canap of identical form, stamped by the menuisier Franois-Claude Menant, together with two pairs of unstamped fauteuils en suite, were sold from the collection of Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke Bernet, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lots 719-21. Menant was not elected matre until 1786, which would apparently point to these chairs being made in an extremely retardataire Transitional style of circa 1775. However, his atelier was in the rue de Charenton, an endroit privilegi where craftsmen could operate without the restrictions of the guilds and thus Menant may well have employed this stamp before becoming matre.
The existence of a closely related bergre stamped C.-L. Burgat, illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Sige au XVIIIme Sicle en France, Paris, 1987, pl. 182, and now in the Metropolitan Museum, suggests that this model was diffused amongst several menuisiers at this time.
A Louis XVI giltwood canap of identical form, stamped by the menuisier Franois-Claude Menant, together with two pairs of unstamped fauteuils en suite, were sold from the collection of Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke Bernet, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lots 719-21. Menant was not elected matre until 1786, which would apparently point to these chairs being made in an extremely retardataire Transitional style of circa 1775. However, his atelier was in the rue de Charenton, an endroit privilegi where craftsmen could operate without the restrictions of the guilds and thus Menant may well have employed this stamp before becoming matre.
The existence of a closely related bergre stamped C.-L. Burgat, illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Sige au XVIIIme Sicle en France, Paris, 1987, pl. 182, and now in the Metropolitan Museum, suggests that this model was diffused amongst several menuisiers at this time.