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Tapestry-Covered Settee

Tapestry-Covered Settee

Maker (French tapestry factory, active from 1662 to the present)
Maker (French, 1703 - 1770)
Maker (French, 1686 - 1755)
After (British, 1714 - 1788)
Additional Title(s)
  • Canapé
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
DateTapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Mediumwool and silk; modern silk and cotton linings; modern polyethylene and polyester upholstery materials including metal staples; gessoed and gilded beech chair frames and modern alder inner frames.
Dimensionstapestry back: 26 1/4 x 54 3/4 in. (66.7 x 139.1 cm.) tapestry seat: 31 x 68 1/2 in. (78.7 x 174 cm.)
DescriptionNeo-classical settee with tapestry seat and back covers. The back cover shows a five amorini in a garden shooting at a heart. The seat shows a hyena kept at bay.
SignedOne tapestry woven cover reportedly bore the woven signature Neilson and the date 1779. The wooden frame of 9.29 is chiseled with the name PiNÇONNET. [Figure 00]
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Status
On view
Label TextThis suite of tapestry-covered furniture combines two 18th-century designs. The seat backs derive from a series of upholstery models in which winged cupids personify the Arts and Sciences, originally designed for Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. The seats do not depict human forms, as was customary in the 18th century. They illustrate scenes from Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables by the animal-painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry. The chair frames, though based on 18th-century models, were made in the 19th century. This suite of furniture was among the first examples of French decorative art purchased by Henry Huntington.
Object number9.30
Tapestry-Covered Settee
Tapestry-Covered Settee
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.31
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
tapestry covers: mid 18th Century; chair frames: 19th Century
Object number: 9.29
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.27
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.20
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.21
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.22
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.23
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.24
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.25
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Tapestry-Covered Chair
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Object number: 9.26
Tapestry-Covered Firescreen
Tapestry-Covered Firescreen
Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
1738-1740 or 1767; frame, 1909-1910.
Object number: 9.32
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Six-fold Screen
Savonnerie Manufactory
1719/84; frame of later date (probably nineteenth-century).
Object number: 11.41
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