A fine and rare Louis XVI giltwood canapé à confidents circa 1770, stamped P. Remy

the rectangular upholstered backrest carved on the top rail with interlocking circles and divided by broad fluted supports carved with ribbon-tied roses and acanthus leaves, surmounted by oval pot pourri vases, the covers pierced with trefoils and stellate motifs; the outer supports carved with pendant bellflowers and acanthus leaves; the seat rails carved with overlapping imbricated discs and raised on turned tapered stop-fluted legs carved with chandelles; upholstered in black velvet.

Anonymous sale, M. de Nicolay, Paris, June 20, 1979, lots 131-132 (a suite)

Collection of Charles de Pauw, sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, June 22, 1986, lot 637

K. Peres, 'Pierre Rémy, menuisier sous Louis XV et Louis XVI', L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, March 2001, illustrated, p. 81, fig. 7.

P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIII Siècle, Paris, 2002, illustrated p. 731.

This canapé is part of a larger suite which consisted of a pair of bergères,  a pair of fauteuils and the present lot, until sold from the estate of Charles de Pauw when the canapé was sold by itself. 

This suite of furniture is based upon a drawing in the Cinquième Cahier d'Ameublement by Richard de Lalonde.  One should pay particular attention to the addition of brûle parfums on the backrest which are highly unusual, and virtually identical to those incorporated in the drawing.  This extremely advanced design was very probably intended for a room also designed following precepts in the 'oeuvres diverses de Lalonde, déssinateur et décorateur'.  The so-called canapé à confidents was constructed either with fixed seats at each end, as with the present lot, or with seats that could be removed.

Pierre Rémy (1724-1798) was a menuisier whose workshop produced seat furniture of high quality in the Louis XV, transitional, early neoclassical and fully neoclassical style.  Few other menuisiers of his generation displayed such versatility and had such an impressive output.  Remy not only made seat furniture, but also provided menuiserie en bâtiment such as walls, panelling, consoles, parquet floors, and so forth.  His workshop was an important and successful one, yet like many of his colleagues, he would die with his business in financial ruin. 

Few records have survived to indicate the breadth of Rémy's clientèle, however his estampille has been found on seat furniture belonging to the marquis de Paulmy, (now in the library of the Arsenal in Paris) also pieces belonging to the duc de Penthièvre at the chateau de Chanteloup.  He also provided furniture for leading painters and architects of the day, suggesting that the quality and refined execution of his work met with the unequivocal approval of contemporary taste-makers.