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Object Name: Chaise (side chair)

Date: 1779

Related People:

Medium: Beech; gilding, modern silk upholstery

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

Place made: Europe, France, Paris

Description: Carved 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. Original upholstery housed separately; chair currently upholstered in fabric reproducing original covering.

Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Gouverneur Morris

Object Number: 1817.13

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Marks: Stenciled on chair webbing: French Royal Inventory Number-Versailles Crowned W #194

Gallery Label:

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.

Provenance:

Made for the Grand Cabinet Interior de la Reine de Versailles, Marie Antoinette, ca. 1779
Gouverneur Morris, ca. 1793 to 1816 (U.S. Minister to French Court during French Revolution).

Bibliography:

Olson, Roberta J. M. "A selection of European paintings and objects." The Magazine Antiques 167 (2005): 182-187.

Exhibitions:

"Fit for the King (Gouverneur Morris: Statesman and Connoisseur)," New-York Historical Society, July 14-October 2, 2000.

"French Founding Father: Lafayette's Return to Washington's America," New-York Historical Society, November 16, 2007-August 10, 2008.