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拍品专文
The present lot brings to mind the extraordinary chassis sofa from a set of furniture that stands prominently in the history of French decorative arts, highlighted in the exhibition 18e. Aux sources du Design: Masterpieces of Furniture from 1650 to 1790 at the Château de Versailles, in which it was presented. (Exh. cat., 18e. Aux sources du design, chefs-d’œuvre du mobilier de 1650 à 1790, Dijon, 2014, pp. 124-125).
Designed in symmetrical rococo style, sculpted with rich flowering vines running elegantly through a wide, flowing line and lined with supple acanthus, velum and other leafy clasps, this sofa perfectly illustrates the genius of its creator: Nicolas Heurtaut. This furniture most probably has a legendary Crozat-Choiseul provenance. When the Duc de Choiseul fell from grace, Louis XV might have acquired it and given it to his friend (or mistress, according to differing accounts), the Countess de Séran, to renovate her Château de La Tour in Normandy in 1771. It subsequently was part of the collections of the Prince de Beauvau at the Château de Sainte-Assise, then in the Jean Seligmann collection (1933), after in the Ortiz Linares collection and finally in the collection of Commandant Paul-Louis Weiller (Christie's Paris sale, 15-16 September 2020, lo 213).
The set of furniture is now precisely identified as comprising a Polonaise bed, a sofa, a pair of small sofas and eight armchairs. All the pieces have now been dispersed. Only one sofa, two armchairs (Christie's London sale, 10 July 2014, lot 12) and two small sofas are in private collections (Sotheby's sale, 28 November 2016, lot 270), the other seats being kept at the Château de Versailles.
Heurtaut is regarded as one of the greatest virtuoso carpenters and sculptors of seats of the mid-eighteenth century, adapting his rococo style to the Louis XV - Louis XVI transition to reflect changes in taste and fashion.
The son of Claude Heurtaut, Nicolas began his career as a seat sculptor after entering the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1742 to work in the workshops of the great master carpenters of the time: Tilliard, Sené and then probably Avisse and Saint-George, before becoming a master carpenter himself on 9 December 1755 and setting up his workshop on rue de Bourbon-Villeneuve in Paris.
Heurtaut was both a sculptor and a carpenter, decorating pieces of furniture from his own workshop and then subcontracting them to other trades (gilder, upholsterer, etc.). His customers were just as varied, ranging from merchants and upholsterers to wealthy clients including the Marquis de Villarceaux, the Duc d'Harcourt and the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
Heurtaut's extraordinary craftsmanship in the extravagant rococo ornamentation of shells, scrolls, palm leaves and other floral garlands is perfectly illustrated in this sofa. B. Pallot rightly highlights the "broad woods, (the) generosity of the proportions, (the) deep and lively sculpture" characteristic of “Heurtaut's style", and then draws attention to "the beautiful junction between the armrest and the side rail with its rococo decoration, the palm branches rising on either side of the legs, the powerful double C shape enclosing a shell with wide grooves, the frame border in the imitation of a passementerie with gilt nails - a border curiously found on the outer uprights of the backrest and on the upright opposite the single armrest of the two small sofas - and finally, the wide twisted uprights opening at the top onto the sides".
P. Kjellberg aptly describes his style: "a lively yet perfectly harmonious rhythm seems to animate the armchairs, which are each decorated in a slightly different way". (Kjellberg, op. cit., p. 441).
Designed in symmetrical rococo style, sculpted with rich flowering vines running elegantly through a wide, flowing line and lined with supple acanthus, velum and other leafy clasps, this sofa perfectly illustrates the genius of its creator: Nicolas Heurtaut. This furniture most probably has a legendary Crozat-Choiseul provenance. When the Duc de Choiseul fell from grace, Louis XV might have acquired it and given it to his friend (or mistress, according to differing accounts), the Countess de Séran, to renovate her Château de La Tour in Normandy in 1771. It subsequently was part of the collections of the Prince de Beauvau at the Château de Sainte-Assise, then in the Jean Seligmann collection (1933), after in the Ortiz Linares collection and finally in the collection of Commandant Paul-Louis Weiller (Christie's Paris sale, 15-16 September 2020, lo 213).
The set of furniture is now precisely identified as comprising a Polonaise bed, a sofa, a pair of small sofas and eight armchairs. All the pieces have now been dispersed. Only one sofa, two armchairs (Christie's London sale, 10 July 2014, lot 12) and two small sofas are in private collections (Sotheby's sale, 28 November 2016, lot 270), the other seats being kept at the Château de Versailles.
Heurtaut is regarded as one of the greatest virtuoso carpenters and sculptors of seats of the mid-eighteenth century, adapting his rococo style to the Louis XV - Louis XVI transition to reflect changes in taste and fashion.
The son of Claude Heurtaut, Nicolas began his career as a seat sculptor after entering the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1742 to work in the workshops of the great master carpenters of the time: Tilliard, Sené and then probably Avisse and Saint-George, before becoming a master carpenter himself on 9 December 1755 and setting up his workshop on rue de Bourbon-Villeneuve in Paris.
Heurtaut was both a sculptor and a carpenter, decorating pieces of furniture from his own workshop and then subcontracting them to other trades (gilder, upholsterer, etc.). His customers were just as varied, ranging from merchants and upholsterers to wealthy clients including the Marquis de Villarceaux, the Duc d'Harcourt and the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
Heurtaut's extraordinary craftsmanship in the extravagant rococo ornamentation of shells, scrolls, palm leaves and other floral garlands is perfectly illustrated in this sofa. B. Pallot rightly highlights the "broad woods, (the) generosity of the proportions, (the) deep and lively sculpture" characteristic of “Heurtaut's style", and then draws attention to "the beautiful junction between the armrest and the side rail with its rococo decoration, the palm branches rising on either side of the legs, the powerful double C shape enclosing a shell with wide grooves, the frame border in the imitation of a passementerie with gilt nails - a border curiously found on the outer uprights of the backrest and on the upright opposite the single armrest of the two small sofas - and finally, the wide twisted uprights opening at the top onto the sides".
P. Kjellberg aptly describes his style: "a lively yet perfectly harmonious rhythm seems to animate the armchairs, which are each decorated in a slightly different way". (Kjellberg, op. cit., p. 441).