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Lot Essay
Sylvain-Nicolas Blanchard, maître in 1743.
These richly carved bergeres once formed part of the celebrated collection of Mr. and Mrs. Deane Johnson of Bel Air, California, and were sold in their landmark sale of French furniture in 1972. The sale included many superb pieces of Louis XVI furniture, many with royal provenance, notably the spectacular console supplied by Riesener to Queen Marie Antoinette (later sold for $3.184 million in 1988, at the time a record price for French furniture) and the celebrated porcelain-mounted secretaire by Weisweiler from Empress Maria Feodorovna's boudoir at Pavlovsk, subsequently acquired by the legendary dealer Duveen from the Soviet government in 1932 and sold to Anne Ford Johnson in 1956.
An invoice from the current consignor indicates the bergeres are signed Sylvain-Nicolas Blanchard, but this signature is no longer visible and it was not noted in the Deane Johnson catalogue.
These richly carved bergeres once formed part of the celebrated collection of Mr. and Mrs. Deane Johnson of Bel Air, California, and were sold in their landmark sale of French furniture in 1972. The sale included many superb pieces of Louis XVI furniture, many with royal provenance, notably the spectacular console supplied by Riesener to Queen Marie Antoinette (later sold for $3.184 million in 1988, at the time a record price for French furniture) and the celebrated porcelain-mounted secretaire by Weisweiler from Empress Maria Feodorovna's boudoir at Pavlovsk, subsequently acquired by the legendary dealer Duveen from the Soviet government in 1932 and sold to Anne Ford Johnson in 1956.
An invoice from the current consignor indicates the bergeres are signed Sylvain-Nicolas Blanchard, but this signature is no longer visible and it was not noted in the Deane Johnson catalogue.