Chaise (side chair)

1779

Place madeParis, France, Europe

Beech; gilding, modern silk upholstery

Overall: 41 × 23 × 21 in. (104.1 × 58.4 × 53.3 cm)

Gift of Mrs. Gouverneur Morris. Sponsored by Nancy Workman and Jonathan B. Miller.

1817.13

This elaborately carved and gilded chair was originally part of a suite that Marie-Antoinette ordered in 1779 for her private apartments at Versailles. New Yorker Gouverneur Morris, the American ambassador to France, purchased the suite at an auction of royal effects held after the fall of the ancien régime. The chair's upholstery reproduces the design of the original.

DescriptionCarved and gilded beech wood Louis XVI chaise (side chair) with arched rectangular back in molded frame with carved paquerettes and acanthus; trapezoidal seat with seat rail carved similarly to the crest rail; on circular tapering spiral-reeded legs headed by leaf tips and beaded; currently upholstered in fabric reproducing original covering.

MarkingsStenciled on chair webbing: French royal inventory number-Versailles crowned W, "du No. 194"

ClassificationsFURNITURE

Collections