A Louis XV cabinet-armchair canned 18th-century Circa 1750

Cabinet armchair, Louis XV period in carved, molded and waxed beech wood, dark cane; with a curved gondola shape, it is just as enveloping as it is harmonious. The woodwork of its back runs in a single jet, up to the armrests so that it seems to continue all around the seat. An elegant work of graceful and deep moldings, all in curves and against curves enhanced by fine fan sculptures embellishes the decor. This office chair has an atypical foot layout. This ingenious and very innovative technical invention consists of shifting the usual location of the base; it is arranged not in a square as usual but in a diamond at the four cardinal points, so as to optimize its stability. The front foot being implanted at the front of the belt in its strongly projecting median part; the user can in this way have his legs on either side thereof. Aiming to be seen from all sides, great care is taken over the smallest details. We notice on the back of the central upright, the vertical strip which serves to block the cavity for fixing the cane with wood. The base is made up of four arched legs with a gradually tapering curve. The front and the sides are pinched in the middle part and raised with fine molding in elegy at the ends punctuated with volute. The seat rack, also dark in cane, is embellished with a square (cushion) of cognac morocco to match the cuffs of the armrests, both upholstered identically. It stems from this most avant-garde seat, very representative of the first period of the reign of Louis XV; a notion of fluidity all in curves and against curves where everything is only delicacy, balance, nervousness, elegance and quality so sweet to the eye. It is worth noting the great care given to the linking elements of irreproachable quality. The size, the proportions, the quality of this armchair tend to attribute it to the production of Jacques-Pierre Letellier. A similar model stamped but sold is in my collection on this shop. Jacques-Pierre Letellier, received Master in 1747, is a member of a dynasty of carpenters and cabinetmakers. First installed rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine, he then moved to rue de Charenton. He made all kinds of ordinary, luxury and convenience seats. His work has been little studied and remains to be discovered. We know, in addition to our office chair already proposed, a series of five cane chairs delivered for the Marquis de Paulmy and preserved in the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, a molded armchair preserved in the city of Melun, a set of Transition seats reputed to come from the Marquis de Marigny (reproduced in Knowledge of the Arts, n°69, May 1969) and part of which is currently dispersed between the AXA headquarters at the Hôtel de la Vaupalière and a large gallery on the left bank, and finally a shepherdess formerly in the Albert Kahn collection. Dimensions: Height: 86.5cm, seat height with cushion 50.5cm, without cushion 44cm, inside height of the backrest 44.5cm without cushion. Width at the outer cuffs 64cm, inner seat width 54cm, 60.5cm at the belt. Depth: of seat 49cm.