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A Pair of Louis XVI Style Fauteuils à la Reine
A Pair of Louis XVI Style Fauteuils à la Reine
Dimensions: H: 39 in / 99 cm | W: 25.5 in / 65 cm | D: 23 in / 58 cm
A Pair of Louis XVI Style Fauteuils à la Reine
After the design by Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené
For Marie Antoinette's Grand Cabinet
Today at the Louvre
The original design dating to 1787, the carved chairs of elegant neoclassical proportions, with predominantly straight lines with the exception of the seat rail and armrests, watergilded throughout, supported on tapering legs with stop-fluted torsade headed by floral capitals, the seat rail with interlaced decoration, the padded armrests with baluster supports bearing carved ribbon-tied pearl garlands, while the backrest is flanked by fluted columns with ionic capitals below the toprail carved with quatrefoils, palmettes and having pinecone finials. Upholstered in a fine floral silk.
French, late 19th century
The prototype for this pair is the suite of Royal seating delivered in 1787 to Château de Saint-Cloud, for Queen Marie Antoinette's Grand Cabinet. Three armchairs of this design were supplied alongside three side chairs, all today at the Louvre in Paris. The armchair bears all the hallmarks of neoclassical style, popular in France after 1775, with its straight, tapering legs and decorative elements which include classical columns with Ionic capitals and laurel and acanthus leaf motifs. Related Royal armchairs, also by Sené, are on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené, maître in 1769.
The quality and originality of Sené's work placed him among the pre-eminent menuisiers of the late 18th century. Around 1770 he established his workshop in the rue de Cléry, quickly building his reputation and ultimately supplying seat-furniture to the Garde-Meuble for Versailles, Montreuil, Saint-Cloud, Compiègne and Fontainebleau. His position ensured he remained in the vanguard of design characterised by strict form, delicate frames and well-adjusted carving.
Comparative Literature:
Kjellberg, Pierre. Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle : dictionnaire des ébénistes et des menuisiers. Paris: Editions de l'Amateur, 1989, p. 853, illustrates the Royal fauteuil.
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