Set of four Louis XV period armchairs, stamped Gourdin

A la Reine, in molded gilded wood, richly carved with stylized shells in the center of the crosspieces, cartouches and laurel leaves on the shoulders, flowers at the top of the legs, whiplash armrests. Armrests with cuffs. They stand on four curved legs. The particularity of these rare chairs is that they have been designed as large bergères, with low legs, and the structure of their backrests indicates that, since their creation, the seats must have accommodated a thick cushion.

Jean-Baptiste Gourdin (c. 1723 - 1781)
Received master's diploma in 1748
Son of Jean Gourdin (also known as Père Gourdin).
Unlike 18th-century wood craftsmen, he did not apprentice to a master carpenter, but to the famous sculptor Toussaint Foliot, from 1736 to 1741. Working as a sculptor enabled him to acquire a good knowledge of the crafts and to strengthen his drawing skills. He returned to work in his father's studio from 1741 to 1746. Even before completing his apprenticeship, he was admitted to the carpenter's guild in 1747. Privileged by the training he had acquired with his father and with Foliot, he was one of the greatest carpenters of his time, renowned not only for the high quality of his designs, but also for his search for new forms. Our suite of armchairs illustrates this research: the curves of the legs and the carved decoration herald the Louis XVI style. Many of the ornaments on his armchairs were inspired by Delafosse. His workshop on rue de Cléry in Paris received some of the most prestigious commissions, including those from the Prince de Soubise and the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette at the Château de Versailles. A pair of identical armchairs was sold in Paris at Galerie Charpentier on June 24, 1937, lot 97 (illustrated in Album Maciet, Les Ebénistes du XVIIe siècle C-G, in the library of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris).