1754~ / 1756~, Paris

1754~ / 1756~, Paris

Identifier
35.145.4
Transfer of custody
Victoria and Albert Museum
Acquisition
Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1935
Collection
Material
Technique
Depiction
Dimension
78.7 cm (height)
63.5 cm (width)
Production time
Production place

Description

This piece is part of a set of twelve armchairs and two settees ordered in Paris in 1753 by Baron Johann Ernst Bernstorff, Danish ambassador to the court of Versailles between 1744 and 1751. After returning to Denmark, Bernstorff commissioned this seat furniture for the tapestry room of his new residence in Copenhagen that was hung with four wall tapestries of the Amours des Dieux series woven at the Beauvais Manufactory. This chair illustrates how French furniture and furnishings were imported all over Europe for the enrichment of palaces and mansions far from Paris. The tapestry covers are woven with animal and bird subjects after designs by the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755).