Suite of 4 Louis XVI armchairs stamped Pillot, Nîmes 18th century

Living room furniture consisting of four molded and carved walnut armchairs.
The basket-handle backs are carved with a cartel loop decorated with laurel leaves, the tops of the uprights are topped with acanthus leaves, the armrests are double fluted, the legs are sheathed with a single deep flute fluted on all sides (this style, as well as the continuity of the flutes on the console at the end of the armrest, are unique to Pillot and are equivalent to a signature), and all four seats bear Pillot's easily recognizable mark.

The highly original shapes of these seats are unique to this master.
Very fine quality of carving, original condition of the shafts, with no restorations and no reinforcing brackets.
Seats reupholstered by our upholsterer in the old-fashioned way and covered with an Indian from the Maison Braquenié.
Dimensions: Height 95 cm x Width 64 cm x Depth 53 cm.
(Dimensions between armrests 54.5 cm - Seat height 46-47 cm).

Nîmes. Louis XVI period - 18th century.

Pierre Nicolas Pillot (Fontenay-sur-Seine 1748 - Nîmes 1822), a joiner active in Nîmes at the end of the 18th century who apprenticed with a great Parisian master joiner and maintained close ties with the capital, proving himself an innovator in Provence by spreading the neoclassical taste. He made a number of seats, as well as Nîmes-style wardrobes and chests of drawers, which almost always feature one or more neoclassical elements and are among the most dazzling pieces of Provencal furniture.

The following is a summary of an excellent article dedicated to him on Wikipedia :

Biography
Son of Jacques Pillot and Marianne Veron, Pierre Nicolas Pillot was the fourth child of Jacques, a schoolmaster and relative of Mathieu Bauve or Debauve, a native of the same village and master carpenter in the Paris community, trained by Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot.
At thirteen, Pierre Pillot was apprenticed to Mathieu Bauve for six years. He worked with this Parisian master for probably nine years as a journeyman.
He moved to Nîmes in 1776. After marrying Marianne Saulet in 1779, he applied for the master's degree in 1780.
An active member of the guild, he took part in examining the community's accounts in 1783 and 1790. He was entrusted with the city's measurements in 1785 and 1789.
His workshop was located in the Prat district on Collège Island.

Stamping and activities
Pillot stamped part of his production. His training within the Paris community no doubt explains this practice.
Some chairs bear both Pillot's stamp and that of Mathieu de Bauve. It is conceivable that Pierre Pillot may have traded in chairs from Paris.
In his 1912 book, Henri Vial reports the existence of a label discovered on a late Louis XVI console. This label, torn in two places and incomplete, read "Pillot, maître menuisier vend toutes sortes de meubles, fauteuils à l'anglaise, en médaillons [...] qu'en garniture, lits à la turque, ottomane, sofa tout à la [...] que dans le mon [...] commodes, de tables à la grecque [...] façon à juste prix [...] Nismes près le marché N° 106". In smaller type, it stated "[...] to make on the spot those which will be ordered to him".
This document reinforces the hypothesis that Pillot worked as a merchant as well as a carpenter.

Production
Stamped production mainly comprises seats (chairs, armchairs, bergères, sofas). Less common are chests of drawers, armoires and consoles stamped "Pillot". These pieces of furniture are generally highly architectural. The legs are very often square in cross-section, with rarely more than one groove per face, sometimes with rudents. They frequently end in square shoes. The lower crosspiece sometimes features a central rectangular cutout. The ornamental repertoire is neoclassical in inspiration. Louis XV and Transitional furniture were also produced.

Museums
Montpellier Hôtel Cabrières-Sabatier d'Espeyran
The Musée du Vieux Nîmes conserves a set of stamped chairs and a cabinet.
The Musée Fabre in Montpellier presents a pair of caned walnut chairs with lyre-shaped openwork backs at the Hôtel de Cabrières-Sabatier d'Espeyran.

Rated
Seats attributed to Pillot, more rarely stamped, are occasionally offered by French and Anglo-Saxon auction houses.
Prices range from €3,000 for an armchair to €3,5000 for a chaise longue or a set of four chairs. More exceptional are prices in excess of €10,000.
Other pieces of furniture (chests of drawers, consoles) are rarer on the market.
Estimates are therefore higher. 10,000 € for a console, 20 to 25,000 € for a chest of drawers.

Sources
Archives départementales du Gard, Archives civiles - Sous série IV E - Corporations d'arts et métiers, IV E 214, IV E 217
Cougy J.L., Conditions de production du mobilier dans la basse vallée du rhône à la fin du XVIIIe siècle - L'exemple de Nîmes, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), Master's thesis, 2005
Lods L., Pillot, menuisier nîmois au XVIIIe siècle, Université Aix-Marseille I, mémoire de maîtrise, 2004
Palot B. G.B., L'art du siège au XVIIIe siècle en France, Paris, ACR-Gismondi Éditeurs, 1987.
Vial H. Marrel A. Girodie A., Les artistes décorateurs du bois. Répertoire alphabétique des ébénistes, menuisiers, sculpteurs, doreurs sur bois ayant travaillé en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie et J. Schmit, 2 vols. 1912-1922.