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SWIVEL CHAIR

Creator(s): Claude I. Sené (Maker)

On view in: French Drawing Room


About this object

This chair was possibly designed as a dressing table chair. Its low back and enveloping seat would have facilitated the powdering of hair. The chair bears the mark of the maker Claude I Sené, a member of one of the most famous dynasties of chairmakers, as well as the stamp of the garde meuble de la reine, the office in charge of supplying furnishings for Queen Marie Antoinette’s apartments.

The curved, barrel-like shape of this swivel chair allows the back and arms to be combined in one section. The curved armrests have a bold scroll at the top carved with an acanthus motif and at the bottom resting on a triglyph. A band of leaves and beading serves as decoration in between the two areas as well as on the chair's back. The circular seat, which is upholstered in leather and rotates on a central axis, is ornamented with a similar band of stylized leaves. Its base is carved with bands of beading and acanthus leaves. The four console legs feature a large acanthus leaf at each knee, and beading leads down to each foot.

Object name:
SWIVEL CHAIR
Made from:
Gilt wood -- leather
Made in:
Paris, France
Date made:
ca. 1785
Size:
77.5 x 64.1 x 57.2 cm (30 1/2 x 25 1/4 x 22 1/2 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:
31.85
Class:
FURNITURE
Signature marks:
STAMP; NUMBER; MONOGRAM Underneath are several stamps: C. SENE (stamped twice); A circular burned stamp: the cipher of Marie Antoinette within a circle surrounded with "Garde Meuble de la Reine."; also the inventory number: 467
Credit line:
Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973