A Set of Four Louis XVI Ivory Painted Fauteuils attributed to Jean-Baptiste Boulard, Circa 1785

The menuisier Jean-Baptiste Boulard (1725-1789, maître in 1755) worked extensively for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne supplying the royal palaces. An identical armchair by Boulard is illustrated in Jean Nicolay, L'Art Et La Manière Des Maitres Ébénistes Français, Paris 1976, p.78 fig. L, and a set of seat furniture of virtually identical model with a slight variation to the top of the legs formed part of the 'service des couches' supplied to Marie-Antoinette at Versailles on 11 February 1785 ahead of the birth of the Duc de Normandie (the future Louis XVII) in March of that year. Two bergères and four fauteuils form that suite are now displayed in the appartement du Dauphin at Versailles. A related suite was also supplied to Madame Elisabeth at Montreuil in c.1788, examples from which are now in Louvre.