Pair 19th C French Louis XV Style Giltwood Wingback Chairs

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Description

This exceptional and highly unusual pair of French Louis XV-style bergères, dating to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, … Read more This exceptional and highly unusual pair of French Louis XV-style bergères, dating to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, represents an especially elaborate interpretation of one of the great French forms of comfortable seating. The chairs are conceived in the tradition of the bergère à oreilles, also historically called a bergère en confessionnal: a large, enveloping armchair distinguished by upholstered lateral extensions or “ears” at the upper back. Period furniture terminology confirms that these ears were intended to shelter the sitter from drafts and provide a degree of privacy and support around the head.

What makes this pair particularly noteworthy is the extraordinary treatment of the arms and wings. Rather than employing the more familiar Louis XV bergère construction, in which relatively low upholstered cheeks fill the area beneath conventional armrests, these chairs possess tall, dramatically elongated upholstered side wings that sweep forward from the upper back and descend toward the arm terminals. The resulting silhouette is unusually sculptural and enveloping. Historical Louis XV bergères were produced in numerous specialized forms—including à oreilles, en confessionnal, en gondole, and other variations—but this pronounced combination of high wings with open, exposed arm supports is a much less frequently encountered configuration.

It would therefore be safest to describe the arm treatment as rare and unusual, rather than suggesting that it constitutes a separate formally named Louis XV type. The design appears to combine the protective wings of the bergère à oreilles with the graceful open arm structure of a fauteuil, creating a particularly sophisticated hybrid interpretation of eighteenth-century French seating.

Each chair has a tall, generously upholstered back rising to a beautifully undulating serpentine crest, the center elevated in a broad curve before descending toward the projecting wings. The exposed wooden framework is richly gilded, with molded and carved edges following every movement of the silhouette. Slender padded armrests project forward from the wings and terminate above sinuously curved supports, whose fluid profiles are unmistakably Louis XV in inspiration.

Below, the broad upholstered seats rest within strongly serpentine seat rails, richly carved with scrolling foliage and Rococo ornament. The rails flow almost seamlessly into elegant cabriole legs, terminating in delicately scrolled feet. This continuity of curved lines—rather than rigid architectural divisions—is a defining feature of Louis XV seating.

The upholstery is equally decorative. A warm ivory or pale champagne textile covers the backs, wings, arm pads, sides, and seats. Against this neutral ground are woven or embroidered gold-toned palmette, foliate, and stylized fleur-de-lis-like motifs, including large scrolling ornaments positioned prominently at the centers of the backs and seats. Smaller scattered motifs create rhythm across the expansive upholstered surfaces, while decorative trimming follows the contours of the giltwood frames.

The substantial width, deep seats, high backs, and enveloping wings give these chairs a particularly luxurious character. The bergère itself developed in eighteenth-century France specifically as a more comfortable, private form of armchair, and the à oreilles variation was among its most sheltered forms.

As a matched pair, these chairs are especially impressive. Their unusual high-wing/open-arm configuration, elaborate giltwood carving, generous scale, and theatrical Rococo silhouette distinguish them from the considerably more common Louis XV Revival fauteuils and conventional bergères encountered on the market. They are handsome examples of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French revival of eighteenth-century aristocratic furniture, combining the exuberant curves of the Louis XV vocabulary with an exceptionally uncommon and visually dramatic arm-and-wing design.


Dimensions: 42.75 inches high x 31.75 inches wide x 32.75 inches deep. Seat Height 18 inches. See less