Carved and gilded wood.
H. 101 cm. (40 in.); W. 78 cm. (30 ¾ in.); D. 64 cm. (25 ¼ in.).
PROVENANCE: collection Etienne Lévy in Paris; collection Luigi Anton Laura, sale in Paris, Sotheby’s/ Poulain Le Fur, 27 June 2001, lot n° 50.
A quintessential example of the art of chairmaking in Paris in the middle of the reign of Louis XV, this large pair of armchairs ‘à la reine’, is typical of the work of Jean-Baptiste I Tilliard (1686-1766, maître menuisier in 1717), a leading member of one of the most important and oldest dynasties of Parisian chair carpenters, known since the late 16th century.
These armchairs are an invaluable testimony to the beauty of Louis XV seating in the mid-eighteenth century, characterized by perfect mastery of design, purity of line and curves, and precision of carving, coupled with the finesse of the ornamentation.
An armchair ‘à la reine’ en suite with ours, was part of the collection of the New-England Museum, Boston.
