Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Rare pair of screens with two-leaf frame in finely carved solid oak.
The outer uprights are based on small winding bases, they are made up of two contiguous parts, a first decorated with palm leaves which supports the second part interlaced with garlands of roses and flowers.
The interior uprights form only one upright once the screen is open, they are interwoven with garlands of roses and flowers on each side.
Low sleepers with three registers, with two “rooster crest” rock clips framing a pigeon wing.
The high transoms with evolutions, in foliage of acanthus centered with rockeries adorned with flowers for one screen and for the other the ducal coat of arms of the Dukes of Choiseul.
The frames lined with canvases decorated in grisaille with scenes from the commedia dell arte, inspired by the works of the painter Antoine Watteau, notably with Pierrot and Colombine.
The scenes are decorated with the ducal coat of arms of the Dukes of Choiseul in the lower part and bordered by a rococo frame.
The frames imitating the woodwork with a reminder of the decor of the barrels.
Good condition, small used restorations.
19th frame and interlinings for oils on canvas.
Parisian work from the Louis XV period attributed to Nicolas Heurtaut after drawings by Nicolas Pineau and probably delivered for Duke Etienne-François de Choiseul Stainville (1719-1785) at the Château de Chanteloup around 1760.
Dimensions:
Height: 165.5 cm; Width one sheet: 75.5 cm; Total width: 151 cm
Our opinion :
Of the seven dukes who, during the 18th century, bore the name of Choiseul, only two could, in the 1760s, have worn the coat of arms of the House of Choiseul “Azure with the golden cross, confined with 18 billets of the even" :
- Etienne-François de Choiseul (1719-1785), Duke of Stainville in 1758. Secretary of State to Louis XV and owner of Chanteloup, he called himself Duke of Choiseul and seems to have sometimes carried the arms of the Choiseul family, significantly different from those of Choiseul-Stainville.
- César Gabriel de Choiseul (1712-1785), Duke of Praslin in 1762. He called himself Duke of Choiseul-Praslin and uses this coat of arms. In this hypothesis the screens could have furnished his Parisian hotel or his castle of Vaux le Vicomte.
Our research directs us more on the trail of the Duc de Choiseul to the Château de Chanteloup.
Indeed the production period of our screens corresponds to the work that the Duke carried out at the Chateau de Chanteloup in the 1760s.
But above all we know of a natural oak console from Chanteloup which is adorned with the same decoration of intertwined rose garlands and which features an identical sculpture.
Formerly in our collection and published on page 250 of the book "Chanteloup a moment of grace around the Duke of Choiseul", it bears the Chanteloup mark "CP" under a crown affixed by the Duke of Penthièvre after the buyout of the castle in 1785.
The console is certainly from the same hand as the two screens that we present.
It is obvious that although Penthièvre keeps some of the decor and furniture, he cannot in any case keep pieces bearing the great arms of the Dukes of Choiseul, which perfectly explains the absence of any mark on our pair of screens.
The nature of the drawing, the purity of the line and the extreme quality of the sculpture allow us to attribute this pair of screens to one of the greatest master carpenters and sculptors of Paris, Nicolas Heurtaut (1720-1771).
In its production, we find consoles and seats with a decor similar to that of the console from Chanteloup as well as our screens.
All of these pieces come from the drawings of the ornamentalist Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754).
