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拍品专文
Crested by a French ducal crown and a coat of arms, these rare fauteuils captures a unique moment in the evolution of French seat furniture between the Louis XIV and Louis XV styles. Dating to the Régence period, around 1720, their rectilinear back and armrest supports in line with the front legs are still very much in the Louis XIV style yet the sinuous lines and lack of stretcher points to the emergence of a new aesthetic vocabulary. The curves visible in the legs, seat rails and armrest supports compliment a profusion of carved ornaments, fleurons and shells to emphasize the salient parts. These elements, along with the coat of arms centering the toprails, contribute to the great rarity of this chair.
Though of noticeably slimmer proportions, the frame of these chairs can be compared with an armchair in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (deposit of the Mobilier National, inv. GMEC 240). Dated around 1715-1720, it uses the same structural and decorative formula as the present chairs. The placement of the decorative carving, backrest, armrest supports, and legs are strictly similar. It is interesting to compare our chair with a drawing in the Cronstedt collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. NMH CC 386), showing two proposals for a Régence chair. The proportions of our chair which are more slender than those on related pieces perhaps suggest an origin outside of Paris. A related pair of chairs of similar form but without the coat of arms was sold Collection Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's, Paris, 14 June 2022, lot 36.
The coat of arms, situated beneath a French ducal crown, displays an ancient heraldic device known as vair. Deriving from a representation of squirrel pelts that were processed together to form a fur like ermine, vair was a common device throughout Europe and indeed was, after ermine, the second-most used fur in heraldry. With only three rows, the device displayed here was called gros vair or beffroi. Numerous French noble families used vair in their arms, including the ducs de Chatillon and the ducs de Mortemart.
Though of noticeably slimmer proportions, the frame of these chairs can be compared with an armchair in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (deposit of the Mobilier National, inv. GMEC 240). Dated around 1715-1720, it uses the same structural and decorative formula as the present chairs. The placement of the decorative carving, backrest, armrest supports, and legs are strictly similar. It is interesting to compare our chair with a drawing in the Cronstedt collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. NMH CC 386), showing two proposals for a Régence chair. The proportions of our chair which are more slender than those on related pieces perhaps suggest an origin outside of Paris. A related pair of chairs of similar form but without the coat of arms was sold Collection Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's, Paris, 14 June 2022, lot 36.
The coat of arms, situated beneath a French ducal crown, displays an ancient heraldic device known as vair. Deriving from a representation of squirrel pelts that were processed together to form a fur like ermine, vair was a common device throughout Europe and indeed was, after ermine, the second-most used fur in heraldry. With only three rows, the device displayed here was called gros vair or beffroi. Numerous French noble families used vair in their arms, including the ducs de Chatillon and the ducs de Mortemart.