Jean-Joseph Chapuis - The Architect London Monday, April 28, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Royal Palace of Laeken, Brussels

  • Literature

    Christopher Wilk, Thonet: 150 Years of Furniture, New York, 1980, p. 10, fig. 8
    Derek E. Ostergard, ed., Bent Wood and Metal Furniture: 1850-1946, exh. cat., The American Federation of Arts, New York, 1987, p. 20, fig. 1-36, p. 200, fig. 2
    Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier franc̜ais du XIXe siècle, 1795-1889: dictionnaire des ébénistes et des menuisiers, Paris, 1989, p. 120
    Alexander von Vegesack, Thonet: Pionier des Industriedesigns 1830-1900, Weil am Rhein, 1994, pl. 3
    Bernd Willscheid, Von Roentgen bis Thonet, exh. cat., Museum Neuwied, 1998, p. 12
    Lieven Daenens, History and Collections, Design museum Gent, 2008, p. 48
    Jason T. Busch, Decorative Arts and Design, Collection Highlights, Pittsburgh, 2009, p. 72

  • Catalogue Essay

    Jean-Joseph Chapuis was an important Belgian furniture designer who was active mainly in the first half of the nineteenth century. Occasionally confused with the Parisian furniture maker Claude Chapuis in his lifetime, he has since become a well-known figure in studies of design history that trace the development of modernism to the turn of the nineteenth century. Along with Samuel Gragg’s chairs of the same period, the present design is often cited as an important early example of the use of laminated bentwood in furniture. Chapuis used bent laminates to great effect in fashioning rounded seats that echoed the curule-form bases of his chairs. Examples of this model are in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Neue Sammlung, Munich and Vitra Museum, Weil am Rhein. The present lot is one of six examples painted in white and gold known to exist.

305

Armchair, from the Royal Palace of Laeken, Brussels

circa 1805
Painted laminated wood, gilted wood, cane, gilded bronze.
88.6 x 52.8 x 58.6 cm (34 7/8 x 20 3/4 x 23 1/8 in.)
Executed by Jean-Joseph Chapuis, Belgium.

Estimate
£25,000 - 35,000 

Sold for £31,250

Contact Specialist
Alexander Payne
Senior Director & Worldwide Head, Design
apayne@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4052

The Architect

Created by Lee F. Mindel, London Auction 29 April 2014 6pm