Within the forthcoming Design For Living auction, on 17th May, we offer Property from a private collection of European Decorative Arts, featuring significant Louis XVI furniture and furniture in the style of Louis XVI dating from the 19th century to the 20th century.
Read Part I of our article:
—————————————-
Louis XVI (1754-1793), the last King of France before the Revolution, reigned from 1774 and at the age of 16, in 1770, he had married Marie Antoinette of Austria. Louis was not particularly interested in the arts, unlike his young bride for whom it was a passion, in which she was joined by the King’s brothers, the Comte de Provence and Comte d’Artois. When Queen, Marie Antoinette set about creating and furnishing new apartments at the Palace of Versailles, the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Tuileries Palace and other exquisite royal residences and large quantities of furniture were required to fill these magnificent public and private interiors.
Furniture of the late 18th century in France is overall elegant and graceful, with designs reverting to examples from ancient Greece and Rome. Discoveries at the archaeological sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii dating from 1760, during the reign of Louis XV, powered interest in the neo-classical style of the 1770s and beyond. Designers, architects, sculptors and engravers had been sent to Italy to document the findings and their engravings of the Greek and Roman art found on site and these provided a rich source for many furniture designers, and specifically the ébénistes who made fine marquetry inlaid ornament to decorate chests and tables.
Lot 131 from Design For Living dates from the Louis XVI era, the pair of ormolu three-light candelabra are modelled with a maiden holding scrolling branches in each hand, with a further branch issuing from an urn atop her head, the circular base features sphinxes – another motif from classical antiquity. And, lot 62, likewise from the late 18th century, is a pair of mahogany, ebony and marquetry encoignures, they are decorated with marquetry urns, lillies and foliage, their tops of marble with ormolu mounts applied.
Lot 160, also from our auction, a late 19th century Louis XVI style mahogany and gilt bronze mounted commode à ventaux by Gouffe of Paris, is after the model by Joseph Stöckel and Guillaume Benneman which was originally created for Marie-Antoinette for the Salon des Jeux at Fontainebleau. Benneman was received master in 1785 by royal command and was the last of the royal cabinet-makers active before the Revolution. His earlier luxurious designs were inevitably tempered with the looming bankruptcy of France and in the later part of Louis’ reign he turned to reconstructing royal furnishings and producing additional items en suite with existing pieces. Court arts at the time, comprising equal measures of craftsmanship and design, came about through the collaboration of a wide group of talented bronziers, sculptors, painters and the ébénistes.
Read Part II of our article here
Property from a private collection of European Decorative Arts
Design For Living, 17th May 2022, 2pm
View the full online Design For Living catalogue here | Browse the page-turning catalogue on issuu.com
For all auction enquiries: +44 (0)207 281 2790 | info@thepedestal.com