A pair of George III blue and white painted armchairs attributed to François Hervé Circa 1785

each upholstered oval backrest within a molded frame flanked by padded armrests, the overupholstered seat raised on tapering circular stop-fluted legs headed by carved flowerheads.  Later decorated.

The Great House, Burford, Oxfordshire

Acquired from the above, 1972

Overall good restored condition; decorated; now with springing to seats; sturdy; chips and losses to the painted surface now showing gesso and wood; wear and rubbing to handholds; feet tipped; it is difficult to determine whether there have been any previous breaks or repairs due to the later decoration.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An attribution for the present pair of chairs to François Hervé is based on 'the documented pieces at Chatsworth where [Hervé's style] can be seen as a light, elegant and adroit mixture of English and French detail', (Beard and Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds: W. S. Maney, 1986, pp. 423-424),   Ivan Hall, op. cit., describes Hervé's style as embodying 'certain distinctive features, among them the stepping down of the seat rails at their junction with the legs, a sensible constructional device that retained the slender elegance of the seat rails while providing a stronger joint at the leg junctions.  The top-most part of the leg is frequently a quadrant in plan, sometimes overlaid with a patera or a half patera of radiating petals . . . the leg below the seat frame often has a turned necking band deeper that that found upon wholly English chairs'.  These characteristics are found on the present pair of chairs but the back legs are splayed in the English manner.  Interestingly, the saw marks of the insides of the seat frames are more typically French than English, the inner frames of English chairs usually being smoothly planed.

 

François Hervé (fl. 1781-1796) is recorded at 32 Johns Street, off Tottenham Court road, and appears to have formerly been in the partnership with John Meschain at the same address.  Hervé, who was presumably of French origin, worked with the architects John Carr of York, James Wyatt and Henry Holland and supplied furniture to a number of fashionable patrons, including the Prince of Wales, the 5^th Duke of Devonshire, Lady Spencer at Althorp, and the 5^th Duke of Bedford.

  

Ivan Hall discusses Hervé's work at Chatsworth in The Burlington Magazine, 'A Neoclassical Episode at Chatsworth', June 1980, pp. 400-414, and illustrates japanned and caned chairs supplied by Hervé in 1782 with similar dropped central panel and stepping down of the seat rails, p. 405, figs. 39-40.