The Museum has two armchairs (fauteuils à la reine) and two side chairs (chaises courantes) that were made about 1780 by Jacob; one of the armchairs is shown here.  The carved and gilded frames reveal the finesse of the woodcarver's technique.  The pieces are upholstered in white silk satin embroidered with colored silks; the design is in the style of Philippe de la Salle, the most prominent designer of woven silk fabrics of the period.

On 31 October 1947 Duveen Brothers sold what the firm called "The Marie Antoinette Set" for 180,000 dollars to Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955). [1] It consisted of three embroidered wall hangings and various pieces of matched seat furniture that originally belonged to two different eighteenth-century suites, with the addition of several later pieces. [2] The wall hangings-chain-stitched embroideries in silk on a white silk-satin ground-show musical instruments, birds' nests, baskets of flowers, and sun hats linked together with swags of flowers. The present armchair and an identical example, as well as a pair of side chairs of the same design, have eighteenth-century show covers that were made to match these embroideries. In order to give the group of seat furniture a unified appearance, the remaining pieces were upholstered with portions cut from additional embroidered hangings that were sacrificed for this purpose.It is not entirely clear how such an illustrious provenance became attached to this assembled lot. When the settee, which dates to the nineteenth century, was published in 1927, nothing was said about its origin except, erroneously, that the eighteenth-century menuisier Georges Jacob had signed it. [3 In 1934, however, the author of a book on French furniture stated that the set had been made by Jacob for Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), and described it as "one of the most beautiful examples of the talent of this master." [4] Furthermore, he declared that the embroidery was the work of the queen and her ladies and that Marie Antoinette gave the entire set to Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre (1725-1793). [5]Stamped by Georges Jacob, who supplied much furniture to the court of Louis XVI (1754-1793), this armchair and its pair have straight, rectangular backs, which characterize them as fauteuils à la reine. When cutting the walnut frames, Jacob must have carefully taken into consideration the planned decoration, leaving enough wood to allow the unidentified but obviously very skilled carver to execute the designs. Particularly striking are the deeply undercut garlands of myrtle branches spiraling around a straight rod on the seat and back rails. Trails of berried myrtle branches are carved around the tapering shafts of the cylindrical legs, which are crowned by collars of laurel leaves and berries. Laurel leaves are also repeated on the front of the curving arm supports that terminate in acanthus-leaf volutes. A molding of pearls and twisted-rope motifs carved along the top of the seat rail gives a rhythmical effect not unlike that created by brass upholstery nails-here absent because the chairs are covered à châssis. The original slip seat and webbing have been preserved. The back panel, edge roll, arm pads, and comfortable down and feather seat cushion are all covered in the original late-eighteenth-century embroidered silk-satin. [6] The back displays floral branches framed by scrolling floral borders. The seat cushion shows a basket of flowers within similar borders. Certain motifs, such as the band of pearls along the fore edge of the seat as well as along the borders of the cushion and of the back, clearly relate to the carving of the wooden frame. The high quality of the once very colorful chain-stitched embroidery clearly identifies it as professional work rather than as the fruit of the queen's pastime. The elegant floral compositions are close to designs by the famed silk manufacturer Philippe de Lasalle (1723-1804/5).From a series of marks, inscriptions, and inventory numbers on the frames of both armchairs a considerable amount of information can be gleaned. [7] First of all, the incised roman numerals VII and VIII indicate that they were numbers seven and eight of a suite that included both arm- and side chairs, and possibly one or more settees. It was not unusual for a chairmaker to identify the various elements, especially such removable parts as slip seats and arm pads, as belonging to a certain chair, to avoid mixing them up.The French inscription "de P[enthiè]vre Paris Chambre à Balus[tre]" (and a variation of this) is enlightening as well, showing that the chairs were in the possession of the wealthy duc de Penthièvre, grand admiral of France and a cousin of Louis XVI. The set furnished his Paris residence, the Hôtel de Toulouse, an early-seventeenth-century building on the rue de la Vrillière, near the place des Victoires. By 1719 the architect Robert de Cotte (1656-1735) had renovated the mansion for the duc de Penthièvre's father, the comte de Toulouse.[8] The hôtel had, according to a late-eighteenth-century description, a chambre des balustres, or room with balustrade on the ground floor. [9] Used only on special occasions, this room was a chambre de parade, or ceremonial bedchamber. A curving balustrade, or estrade, seen in a plan by Jacques-François Blondel (1705-1774), closed off a bed alcove separating the state bed from the rest of the room . [10] To have such a balustrade was a privilege, allowed only in the state apartments of dukes, princes, and grands seigneurs. [11] The formal nature of the Museum's armchairs as so-called fauteuils meublants, placed along the wall and considered to be part of the interior decoration, reflects the official function of the room. Given the various other French inscriptions on the frames, it is possible that the chairs were also used in a different part of the house. It has been suggested that the entire set was placed in the first-floor apartment of the duke's widowed daughter-in-law, Marie-Thérèse-Louise, princesse de Lamballe (1749-1792), a friend of Marie Antoinette's. [12]After the duc de Penthièvre's death his only surviving daughter, Louise-Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre (1753-1821), inherited his possessions. Married to the liberal Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d'Orléans (1747-1793), who renounced his title and became known as Philippe-Égalité, she was widowed when he was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1793. She was exiled from France, and her property including the Hôtel de Penthièvre (Toulouse) was confiscated in 1797. The chairs may then have come into the possession of the banker Gabriel-Julien Ouvrard (1770-1846), whose name is written on stickers affixed to the slip seats. Having amassed a huge fortune in war speculations, Ouvrard became purveyor to the French navy in 1798. He apparently acquired several of the confiscated estates of the Orléans family that were, however, returned to them in 1814. The "B125" marks on the chairs probably refer to one of these properties, perhaps the eighteenth-century Château de Bizy, in Normandy, where the duc de Penthièvre died and his daughter lived after her return from exile. An inventory of the Château de Bizy described the Salon de Famille as furnished with hangings of white silk-satin embroidered with floral designs, and it listed a large set of seat furniture in the same room that was upholstered to match. This inventory was drawn up shortly after 1830, when the castle was in the possession of the son of Philippe-Égalité, Louis-Philippe (1773-1850), duc d'Orléans, who became king of France in 1830.The crowned, interlaced monogram "LPO" on the chairs clearly refers to his ownership, and he may have been responsible for uniting the two sets. It has been said that Louis-Philippe left the assembled seat furniture to his youngest daughter, Marie-Clémentine (1817-1907), who lived in Austria after her marriage to Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg. [13] Some years after her death, in September 1913, Duveen Brothers, the well-known antiques dealership with branches in London, Paris, and New York, acquired this set of furniture. [14]Notes:1 Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Papers and Correspondence, 1901-81, box 475, f. 5 (microfilm, reel 330).2. In 1958 the pieces were a gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to the Museum. They included two armchairs (acc. nos. 58.75.25,26) and two matching side chairs (58.75.33,34) all stamped by Georges Jacob. There were also two similar armchairs (58.75.30,31) and one small settee, or marquise (58.75.27), also by Jacob but part of another set. In addition, there were a settee (58.75.24), two armchairs (58.75.29,32), and a second marquise (58.75.28) executed at a later date to match the design of accession numbers 58.75.27,30,31. The wall hangings have the accession numbers 58.75.35-37. See Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, pp. 61-75, nos. 7-9.3. Feulner 1927, p. 675, fig. 600. In this publication the settee is said to be owned by Duveen Brothers.4.  "une des plus belles manifestations du talent de ce maître"; Theunissen 1934, pp. 89-90, pls. XXXIII, XXXIV. In this publication the set is said to be property of Duveen.5. footnote: Ibid., pp. 89-90. This provenance was supposedly based on a mémoire of Princesse Marie-Clémentine, daughter of King Louis-Philippe, who inherited the set in the nineteenth century.6. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, pp. 70, 74, no. 9.7. The markings on the matching armchair are very similar to those on the present example. Stamped on the underside of the back seat rail are "G+JACOB" twice and "279"; stenciled are "B125" and the crowned monogram "LPO." Inscribed in ink on a sticker pasted under the back seat rail is "Chambre à Coucher." Incised on the top of each seat rail under the slip seat is the roman numeral VII. Painted on the back rail of the slip seat is "No 7 Chambre . . . Balustre en haut," and pasted there is a sticker on which is written in ink "Ouvrard." The webbing is stenciled with the crowned monogram "LPO." There is a torn Duveen Brothers sticker and another with the number 265818 inscribed on it underneath the left side seat rail.8. Blondel 1752-56, vol. 3, chap. 7, p. 27; and Parker 1960, pp. 296-301.9. Thiéry 1787, vol. 1, col. 304.10. Blondel 1752-56, vol. 3, chap. 7, pl. I.11. Havard 1887-90, vol. 1, col. 234.12. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, p. 66, no. 7a-d.13. footnote: Theunissen 1934, p. 89.14. footnote: Duveen acquired a one-third share in the set. Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Business Records, 1876-1964, Paris Stock Book, no. 4, 1913-14, box 100, f. 49 (microfilm, reel 35). The set stayed with Duveen until 1947 and is regularly listed in the records. The Marie Antoinette provenance appeared for the first time in 1935; Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Business Records, 1876-1964, box 26, f. 9 and f. 10 (microfilm, reel 11). I am grateful to Charlotte Vignon, Annette Kade Art History Fellow, 2005-2006, Metropolitan Museum, for this information.

Silk and silk chenille yarns, plain weave with twill interlacings of secondary binding warp and facing wefts and with plain interlacings of secondary binding warps and brocading wefts

From 1712, when the imperial armory in the town of Tula, south of Moscow, was founded by Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725), the master armorers regularly enjoyed imperial patronage.[1] During the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1741–61), they began to produce a sideline of cut-steel decorative items and furniture now known as Tula ware. These were richly and elaborately worked using many different techniques in addition to the faceting that gives them their characteristic diamond-like sparkle. Although in their shapes Tula chairs, tables, and stools resemble traditional wooden furniture, they are chased, blued, chiseled, gilded, pierced, and inlaid like parade weapons. They have come to embody for the eighteenth century the Russian decorative arts, as Fabergé objects have for the decades just before and after 1900.[2] So greatly admired was Tula ware in Western Europe that around 1775 its steel-cut look was imitated in silver and silver-gilt by Augsburg goldsmiths.[3]In 1785 Empress Catherine the Great, during whose reign (1762–96) the Tula factory flourished, sent two of the armory's most experienced steelworkers to England in order to hone their skills and broaden their creative outlook and ideas; however, English pattern books such as Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754) were already in circulation among Russian cabinetmakers.[4] The most imaginative pieces of Tula furniture-objects like the Museum's table-were either delivered directly to Catherine the Great or purchased by her and her family or at the annual Sofia Spring Fair near the palace of Tsarskoye Selo. Made in a cooperative effort by designers and specialist craftsmen, such illustrious pieces were seen as objets d'art and were intended for display and not for daily use. So great was Catherine's passion for these fabulous objects that in 1775 she merged her Tula ware collection of several hundred pieces with some of the crown jewels and placed them together in a special jewelry gallery at the Winter Palace.[5] The empress loved the reflection of light from the thousands of cut-steel facets that caught the rays of the sun by day and the flickering light of candles by night.Catherine's son and successor, Paul I (r. 1796–1801), who disliked his mother's taste in many ways, did, to some extent at least, share her love of Tula ware. As grand duke, he and his second wife, Sophia-Dorothea of Württemberg (1759–1828), called in Russia Maria Feodorovna, ordered "two chandeliers" and "a stool and several other objects" between 14 May and 7 July 1786, from the Tula armorer Simeon Samoelov (Samarin) for Pavlovsk Palace, near Saint Petersburg.[6]When the Museum's table appeared at auction in 2001, the sale catalogue correctly identified the branded initial "P" as the mark of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg (r. 1785–1829); however, there is one misconception in the catalogue—that Duke Peter might have purchased the table on one of "his visits to his Russian cousins."[7] Tula ware of such high quality was not offered for public sale; rather, such furniture would have left Russia only as a diplomatic gift or as part of an imperial dowry or a present within the imperial family. The Museum's table was most likely acquired by Catherine the Great herself about 1780–85. It is later recorded, together with furniture by Henri Jacob (1753–1824) and David Roentgen (1743–1807), in an inventory of Pavlovsk Palace in 1801. Among the furnishings in Maria Feodorovna's bedroom is listed "a one-legged table with four whale-feet supporting a rectangular top, with steel diamonds and cut silver."[8] Next to this entry is an annotation in another hand: "Given as a gift to the duke of Golsteen [Holstein] by her Majesty, the Empress."[9] This note contains a crucial clue as to how the imperial table left Russia. Duke Peter and his older brother, Wilhelm August, were born princes of Holstein-Gottorp. Their father's sister, Johanna Elisabeth, was the mother of Catherine the Great, who was born a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, a family not particularly wealthy but ancient and distinguished. When Wilhelm was killed in an accident at sea, Peter was next in line to rule the dukedom of Oldenburg. The province had been until recently part of the inheritance of Grand Duke Paul. Following the wish of his mother, Catherine, in 1773 Paul transferred Oldenburg to the house of Holstein-Gottorp in order to provide their "poor" cousins "with a solid and suitable estate."[10] Nevertheless, the dukes of Oldenburg had to acknowledge the feudal jurisdiction of the Russian emperor, since he was in theory the head of the state.[11] After the assassination of Paul on 23/24 March 1801, Duke Peter traveled to Russia, doubtless to pay homage to the new czar, Alexander I (r. 1801–25), now head of the imperial family. Peter stayed with Maria Feodorovna at Pavlovsk Palace from 21 May until 26 June 1801.[12] Twenty years earlier he had married Friederike von Württemberg, a sister of Maria Feodorovna's. The marriage, a happy one, was cut short when Friederike died in 1785 after childbirth.[13] In a letter to his sister-in-law dated 23 November 1800, the duke, who never remarried, wrote, "Tomorrow it will be fifteen years since our beloved Friederike left us. I know that your Imperial Majesty will think of us."[14] It seems safe to assume that the dowager empress gave the Museum's table as a personal keepsake to her former brother-in-law during his stay at Pavlovsk. The empress had herself just become a widow and must have felt gratitude and affection for Peter, who had devoted himself to the upbringing of his two sons, her nephews.[15] In this connection, it is interesting to note that before returning to Oldenburg Duke Peter bought an extra wagon to transport home the things he had acquired during his stay in Saint Petersburg.[16]The Museum's table belongs to a very small group of Tula furniture embellished with silver inlay, ornamental etching, and gilded applications. It includes a dressing table with chair in the pure Neoclassical taste presented by the town of Tula to Catherine the Great on the occasion of the empress's visit in 1787. She gave it in 1788 to Maria Feodorovna, and it is still preserved in the public rooms at Pavlovsk Palace.[17] Closest in style to the Museum's table is one in Catherine's bedroom at the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo; its stand still reflects the influence of English Rococo forms, but its top and decoration are Neo-classical.[18] Another example, with a rectangular top and four tapering legs, is in Pavlovsk.[19] Two slightly earlier examples, with round tops in the "Chippendale style," are in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.[20] The table in the Metropolitan is technically the most accomplished and visually the most exciting example. The astonishing disparity between the heavy and recalcitrant materials and the light and airy form that seems to float on the surface of the sea, supported by golden whales, makes this table a supreme masterpiece.[21][Wolfram Koeppe 2006]I thank Mechthild Baumeister, Linda Borsch, Olga Kostiuk, Marina Nudel, and Stuart Phyrr for their help with this entry. I am most grateful to H.R.H. Dr. Philipp, duke of Württemberg, for his advice. Special thanks are also due to H.R.H. Christian, duke of Oldenburg, for discussing the history of this table with me and for allowing me to consult Oldenburg family documents at the Staatsarchiv in Oldenburg.Footnotes:[1] Mariia Danilovna Malchenko. Art Objects in Steel by Tula Craftsmen. Leningrad, 1974, p. 5, figs. 5-7.[2] Other typically Russian national arts are stone cutting, associated with the Imperial Glass and Lapidary Works in Saint Petersburg, and the walrus-ivory carving done at Arkhangel'sk. On the latter, see "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1997–1998." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 56, no. 2 (Fall 1998), p. 39 (entry by Marina Nudel).[3] A pair of silver candlesticks in the Tula taste by the famous Biller family of Augsburg goldsmiths was shown by the Galerie Neuse, Bremen, at the TEFAF antiques fair, Maastricht, in 1998.[4] Mariia Danilovna Malchenko. Art Objects in Steel by Tula Craftsmen. Leningrad, 1974, pp. 14-16.[5] St. Petersburg Jewellers, Eighteenth–Nineteenth Centuries/Petersburgskie iuveliry, XVIII–XIX veka. Exh. cat., State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg, 2000, p. 8 (showcase at lower left).[6] Archives, State Museum Pavlovsk, doc. A-20/4, pp. 5-6 (for 1786), cited in Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov. "Tul'skie stal'nye izdeliia v urbranstve Pavlovskogo  dvortsa (Works in steel from Tula in the interiors of Pavlovsk Palace). In Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov, Stat'i, vospominaniia, pis'ma (Essays, memoirs, letters), pp. 136–42. Pavlovsk: Istoriia i sud'by. Saint Petersburg, 2004.[7] Catalogue of a sale at Christie's, London, 13 December 2001, p. 126, lot 500.[8]  Archives, State Museum Pavlovsk, inventory of Pavlovsk Palace, 1801, p. 32. See "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2001–2002." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 60, no. 2 (Fall 2002), p. 25 (entry by Wolfram Koeppe); Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov. "Tul'skie stal'nye izdeliia v urbranstve Pavlovskogo  dvortsa (Works in steel from Tula in the interiors of Pavlovsk Palace). In Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov, Stat'i, vospominaniia, pis'ma (Essays, memoirs, letters), pp. 136–42. Pavlovsk: Istoriia i sud'by. Saint Petersburg, 2004, pp. 139-40, n. 10 (in which the table is mentioned); and Wolfram Koeppe. "The Oldenburg Table." Weltkunst 75 (2005), pp. 188–92. 75th anniverary issue, pt. I.[9] Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov. "Tul'skie stal'nye izdeliia v urbranstve Pavlovskogo  dvortsa (Works in steel from Tula in the interiors of Pavlovsk Palace). In Anatolii Mikhailovich Kuchumov, Stat'i, vospominaniia, pis'ma (Essays, memoirs, letters), pp. 136–42. Pavlovsk: Istoriia i sud'by. Saint Petersburg, 2004, p. 140, n. 10.[10] Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg, Best. 7, Urk. 1773, Juli 19/30; see Hülle 1972, p. 45.[11] Following the protocol, the Annual Chronicle of Oldenburg published during these years documents all the public activities of the Russian imperial household before recording local events (reviewed by this author at the Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg).[12] Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg, Best. 6D, no. 25.[13] Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg (1755–1829). Exh. cat., Landesmuseum Oldenburg. Veröffentlichungen der Niedersächsischen Archivverwaltung, suppl. 22. Göttingen, 1979, pp. 34-37, nos. 15, 16.[14] Johann Heinrich Hennes. Friedrich Leopold, Graf zu Stolberg, und Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg: Aus ihren Briefen, und anderen archivalischen Quellen. Mainz, 1870. Repr., Bern, 1971, p. 524.[15] Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg (1755–1829). Exh. cat., Landesmuseum Oldenburg. Veröffentlichungen der Niedersächsischen Archivverwaltung, suppl. 22. Göttingen, 1979, pp. 8-9.[16] A detailed estimate provided by the duke's adjutant lists all the transport costs, including money "to bribe the Danish customs" (Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg, restricted Oldenburg family papers). Three pieces by David Roentgen, all bearing the crowned P, were most likely part of the gift; see catalogue of a sale at Christie's, Schloss Anholt, 20-21 November 2001, lots 570-72. One of them, an architect's table, is today in a private collection in New York.[17] Alexandra Vassilievna Alexeieva. "Furniture." In Pavlovsk, ed. Emmanuel Ducamp, vol. 2, The Collections, pp. 92–115. Paris, 1993, p. 92; and Krieg und Frieden: Eine deutsch Zarin in Schloss Pawlowsk. Exh. cat., Haus der Kunst, Munich. Munich and Hamburg, 2001, pp. 342-43, nos. 213-16 (entry by Olga Bashenowa).[18] The table is illustrated in color in Antoine Chenevière. Russian Furniture: The Golden Age, 1780–1840. London, 1988, p. 247, pl. 266.[19] Krieg und Frieden: Eine deutsch Zarin in Schloss Pawlowsk. Exh. cat., Haus der Kunst, Munich. Munich and Hamburg, 2001, p. 343 (on the left).[20] Mariia Danilovna Malchenko. Art Objects in Steel by Tula Craftsmen. Leningrad, 1974, figs. 15, 16.[21] The table was restored in 2003 by Linda Borsch, Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum. She replaced a thick gilded-wood molding on the top with a beaded frame that was adapted from an original eighteenth-century piece in the Museum's gilt-bronze collection; see the conservation report in the archives of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.

1780~ / 1785~, Paris

1780~ / 1785~, Paris

Description