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Pair of side chairs (chaises à la reine)

ca. 1752–60
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 539
The top rail of the back and front rail of the seat are carved with three flowers flanked by branches of flowers and leaves. Both Michel and Jean-Baptiste Gourdin used the motif of a flower at each front corner above a split stem running down the fore edge of the front leg with an acanthus leaf on the foot. Other chairs by Michel Gourdin are in the Louvre, the Bouvier Collection in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris; the Wallace Collection, London; Windsor Castle; and the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York.

[Bill Rieder, 1984]

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pair of side chairs (chaises à la reine)
  • Maker: Michel Gourdin (French, master 1752, died after 1777)
  • Date: ca. 1752–60
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Carved and gilded beechwood, 18th century lavender brocaded silk upholstery (not original)
  • Dimensions: Each, 36 1/4 x 24 1/2 x 26 in. (92.1 x 62.2 x 66cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.60.77, .78
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Upholstery fabric
French
mid-18th century
Armchair, Michel Gourdin French, Carved and painted beechwood; cut and voided velvet upholstery, French, Paris
Armchair
Michel Gourdin
ca. 1760
Costume Armor in the Classical Style, Hallé French, Helmet: linen, papier-mâché, bole, gold leaf, graphite; tunic: silk, cotton, metal coils and spangles, metallic yarn, French, Paris
Costume Armor in the Classical Style
Helmet includes original paper label of Hallé
ca. 1788–90
Side chair, Bovo, Carved and gilded beechwood, covered in 18th-century cream-colored silk tabby upholstery, French
Side chair
Bovo
ca. 1780–85
Commode à vantaux, David Roentgen German, Oak, pine, walnut, mahogany, and cherry veneered with hornbeam (partially stained), tulipwood, walnut, holly and maple (both partially stained), boxwood, mahogany, and other woods; red brocatelle marble; gilt bronze; iron, steel, and brass, German, Neuwied am Rhein
Commode à vantaux
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1775–79 with later alterations

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