Stunning Regence period concave sofa

Astonishing concave sofa in natural and painted wood, resting on six curved legs. The sofa's belt is carved with two large motifs featuring a shell enclosing a flower, crosses, scrolls and stylized leaves. The arm brackets are carved with foliage. The uprights and crosspieces of the backrest are concealed in the upholstery.
Regency period
Restoration, modern upholstery
H. 91 x W. 134 x D. 81 cm

At a time when the quest for comfort was becoming an increasingly important aspect of client requirements, the sofa was becoming an indispensable piece of furniture in the living room. Halfway between a bench and a daybed, the sofa has found its audience, seduced by its comfort and practicality. A numerous and varied typology was developed, and our sofa is a fine illustration of the creativity of carpenters, who, no doubt out of a desire to save space in their interiors, created angled sofas. Pierre Kjellberg, for his part, raises the hypothesis that these sofas were intended, in the past, for a rotunda room, which explains the curved shape (an idea taken up by Bill Pallot in the book "L'art du siège au XVIIIe siècle en France" published by Editions Gismondi). In the inventories of Madame de Pompadour's collections, we find mention of a sofa and several banquettes known as "en encoignure" (Pierre Verlet, Les meubles français du XVIIIe siècle, Presses Universitaires de France). Several reference works also mention sofas of this kind, which remain a rarity on the market, an extravagance in 18th-century furniture production.
We can therefore put our sofa into perspective with an extremely rare corner sofa by carpenter Nicolas Heurtaut, now in a private collection but published in Pierre Kjellberg's "Le mobilier français" (Guy le Prat éditeur).