Decorative arts

Tapestry-Covered Chair

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Type: Decorative arts(Opens in new tab)
Date: Tapestry woven covers ca. 1779; frames of nineteenth-century before 1892; modern
Accession number: 9.20
Makers: François Boucher(Opens in new tab) (French, 1703–1770); Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory(Opens in new tab) (French, 1662–1662); Jean-Baptiste Oudry(Opens in new tab) (French, 1686–1755)
After: Jacques Neilson(Opens in new tab) (British, 1714–1788)
Dimensions: tapestry back: 22 1/2 x 21 1/2 in. (57.2 x 54.6 cm.) tapestry seat: 26 3/4 x 26 3/4 in. (67.9 x 67.9 cm.)
Medium: wool 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.
Description: Neo-classical chair with tapestry seat and back covers. The back cover shows a child holding a pen, writing on a scroll in a field. The seat shows a hawk pouncing on a partridge.
Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department: European Art
Find out more: View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)

Label text

Part of the suite of tapestry-covered furniture, these chairs combine 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.

Tapestry-Covered Chair

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