Unusual pair Louis XV/XVI painted bergères by Claude-Etienne Michard. Each curvilinear frame, in the form of a typical Louis XV bergère, is decorated with neoclassical carved motifs such as the entrelacs on the rails and back and the stylized acanthus motifs at the crest, center rail and heading the front legs. The delicate concave horseshoe backs have unusual “C”-form brackets in the outside corners; these rare brackets are uniquely associated with chairs made for the duc de Choiseul at Chanteloup in the 1760’s by Michard or Boulard. (See: Laurent Condamy: Boulard; Éditions Faton, Saint-Étienne, France, 2008. Page 159.) [Original paint with touchups. Signed faintly on the bottom center front rail of one chair, and boldly on the rear inside rail of the other.]
The duchesse de Choiseul was petite, which may explain the slightly diminutive size of these bergères. There is a similar gilded desk chair by Michard in the Musée Nissim de Camondo that was made for the duc de Choiseul and shares the same neoclassical motifs on a rococo frame. Claude-Étienne Michard became a master in 1757 and these bergères were made in the 1760’s.
Ex collection: duc et duchesse de Choiseul at Chanteloup
Monsieur et Madame L. B.: Ader Picard Tajan; Paris 6/13/1979. Lot 55
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