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Lot Essay
Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, maître in 1729.
Nicolas Quinibert Foliot came from a celebrated family of menuisiers, and like his father Nicolas before him, was a fournisseur attitré du Garde-Meuble Royal. He was one of the most important menuisiers of the Louis XV period, supplying extensive amounts of seat furniture to the Royal Court, including a dais for the throne of Louis XV at Versailles, a complete mobilier for the Chambre du Roi, and important pieces for the Comtesse du Barry and the Comtesse de Provence. He is particularly associated with the mature Louis XV style of the 1750s termed rocaille symmetrisé by Bill Pallot in his seminal work on French chairs L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe Siècle en France, in which these chairs are illustrated. The symmetry in the rococo forms and frozen quality of the curves are characteristic of the rocaille symmetrisé, first evident in 1748-49. This style would then further develop into the so-called Classical symmetrical rococo, preceding the beginning of Neoclassicism. Conceived by Foliot in this transitional style, these chairs are related to the work of Pierre Contant d'Ivry (1698-1777) of the mid-1750s, at the Palais Royal in Paris and the Palais Bernstorff in Copenhagen, see S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, pp. 42-43, figs. 22-27. The carving on these chairs is three-dimensional and sculptural, a quality that is most apparent in the knees where the delicate flower stems are worked in the round, giving the decoration a particularly realistic feel. The central cartouches of the backs and the seat rails are characteristic not only to Foliot's oeuvre but also to the rocaille symmetrisé itself. The flowers above the rouleau feet are also typical of his work, while the use of volutes is a further indication of the dawn of neoclassicism. Foliot is linked to two of the most celebrated commissions of this period, the superb seat furniture supplied to Madame Louise-Elisabeth for her use in the ducal palace of Colorno, Parma, and the nascent neoclassicism of the famous tapestry suite delivered to the abovementioned Baron Bernstorff in Copenhagen in 1754, see Pallot, op. cit., pp. 142-149 and 168-169.
Nicolas Quinibert Foliot came from a celebrated family of menuisiers, and like his father Nicolas before him, was a fournisseur attitré du Garde-Meuble Royal. He was one of the most important menuisiers of the Louis XV period, supplying extensive amounts of seat furniture to the Royal Court, including a dais for the throne of Louis XV at Versailles, a complete mobilier for the Chambre du Roi, and important pieces for the Comtesse du Barry and the Comtesse de Provence. He is particularly associated with the mature Louis XV style of the 1750s termed rocaille symmetrisé by Bill Pallot in his seminal work on French chairs L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe Siècle en France, in which these chairs are illustrated. The symmetry in the rococo forms and frozen quality of the curves are characteristic of the rocaille symmetrisé, first evident in 1748-49. This style would then further develop into the so-called Classical symmetrical rococo, preceding the beginning of Neoclassicism. Conceived by Foliot in this transitional style, these chairs are related to the work of Pierre Contant d'Ivry (1698-1777) of the mid-1750s, at the Palais Royal in Paris and the Palais Bernstorff in Copenhagen, see S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, pp. 42-43, figs. 22-27. The carving on these chairs is three-dimensional and sculptural, a quality that is most apparent in the knees where the delicate flower stems are worked in the round, giving the decoration a particularly realistic feel. The central cartouches of the backs and the seat rails are characteristic not only to Foliot's oeuvre but also to the rocaille symmetrisé itself. The flowers above the rouleau feet are also typical of his work, while the use of volutes is a further indication of the dawn of neoclassicism. Foliot is linked to two of the most celebrated commissions of this period, the superb seat furniture supplied to Madame Louise-Elisabeth for her use in the ducal palace of Colorno, Parma, and the nascent neoclassicism of the famous tapestry suite delivered to the abovementioned Baron Bernstorff in Copenhagen in 1754, see Pallot, op. cit., pp. 142-149 and 168-169.