A pair of carved giltwood fauteuils à la reine both stamped I. Pothier Louis XV//XVI Transitional, circa 1765

each with a cartouche shaped padded back, the top-rail centred by a patera flanked by trails of husks with a gadrooned inner border above downscrolled padded arms and serpentine padded seat, the seat-rail carved with stylised Greek key motif, one with incised Roman numerals VVV  and an ink written label `Douane Exposition...centrale' , the other with an ink inscribed label 447; regilt

Senator Mario Crespi (1879-1962) and Fosca Crespi, 15 Sant' Andrea, Milan (see fig.1.)
Private Collection, Rome

These regilt armchairs are in good conserved condition. They are an imposing model and an attractive large size and beautifully carved. Joints sound and sturdy. Old marks, chips and losses to the gilding which has been touched up for the view and it is worn to the red bole in places as visible from the photograph.There are some very minor hairline construction cracks at the joints which can be left and are consistent with age and normal useage. The underside of the frames have been stained yellow when the gilding was restored. There is a gap towards the top of the left side of the back of the armchair in the foreground where the upholstery does not quite meet the frame and a miniscule triangular chip to the gadrooned border and a very minor chip to the rear of the top-rail on the back of the same one which can easily be restored.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comparative Literature:
Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, pl. 159.
Nicholas Hoentschel, Goerges Hoentschel, Editions, Monell Hayot, Saint Rémy en l'Eau, 1999, p.195.
Madeleine Jarry, Le siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, ill. 174.
Bill G.B. Pallot, The art of the chair in eighteenth century France, Paris, 1989, p.177.
Eveline Schlumberger, `Deux mécènes milanais installent à la française leurs collections dans un palais' , Connaissance des Arts, October 1961, p. 108.

These magnificent armchairs not only retain their Louis XV sinuous silhouette with the curved seat-rail, cabriole legs and cartouche shaped back, but also are embellished with typical neo-classical decoration such as the laurel garlands, acanthus spirals and Greek key frieze which firmly places this pair of armchairs during the goût grec revival in the 1760's. The offered armchairs were only attributed to Pothier in 1961, and it was only when photographs of the chairs were first published that a connoisseur identified them as being by this celebrated maker.

The stylised Greek key motif is so emblematic of the goût grec style marking the transition from Louis XV to Louis XVI period. This motif can be found on numerous examples of cabinet furniture and was used in both marquetry and gilt-bronze; a spectacular example of this being the celebrated La Live de Jully bureau. By contrast, the Greek key motif rarely appears on seat furniture.

A similar armchair with a seat-rail carved with the Greek key motif can be found in a watercolour by Pierre Antoine Baudoin and the engraving of this work by Jean Massard, published by Svend Eriksen, op. cit., ill. 389.

The offered armchairs and the suite of which they were once part, were one of the most ambitious and certainly the most creative projects of Pothier's career. The chairs which originally comprised this set were dispersed at the end of the 19^th century.

From this suite, six armchairs and a canapé are recorded. Beside the offered pair, two additional chairs were sold at Christie's see post; one is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York see post; and one is in the collection of AXA Group.

The Metropolitan Museum Armchair by Pothier:

This chair reproduced here in fig. 2, came from the collection of Georges Hoentschel (1855-1915), one of the most prominent interior decorators at the end of the 19^thand early 20^thcenturies, see fig. 3. He was a passionate and enthusiastic collector of 18^th century French furniture. After his wife's death in 1905, he sold the majority of his collection, which had until then been in his residence on the Boulevard Flandrin to J. Pierpoint Morgan (1837-1913). Amongst nearly 2000 objects were to be found a number of outstanding pieces of which the armchair by Pothier is a fine example. Upon Hoentschel's death the rest of his collection was dispersed at the Galerie Georges Petit in a series of five memorable sales from 1919 to 1922.
J. Pierpoint Morgan acquired the Hoentschel's collection on 27^th April 1906, for the sum of four million gold francs; it was then given by the financier to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The armchair in the Metropolitan is frequently illustrated, see for example, Nicholas Hoentschel, op. cit., p. 195, Jarry op. cit., P. 174, Eriksen, op. cit., pl. 159 and Pallot, op. cit., p. 177.

Other examples from the Pothier suite:
Another armchair in the collection of the Axa Group is kept at the Hôtel de La Vaupalière in Paris. The decorator François–Joseph Graf was commissioned to make seven copies of this chair to replicate the set, which is now displayed in the Antichambre of the Hotel and are illustrated by Jerôme Coignard et al, l'Hotel de la Vaupalière, Paris, 2008, p. 54-55, and reproduced here in fig. 4.

A pair of identical armchairs was sold from the collection of Baron Eugène Fould-Springer, Palais Abbatial de Royaumont, Christie's, Paris, 19th-21st September 2011, lot 133 for £301,000. The provenance is unknown. They do not seem to have appeared in the inventory in July 1913 by Georges Samary de la `Collection de Monsieur le Baron Eugène Fould'. One can only surmise that they were purchased from reputable dealers who Eugène Fould dealt with, such as Guiraud or Seligmann. One of the two armchairs sold at Christie's was lent by Baron Springer to an exhibition in the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris from 1955 to 1956.

A similarly carved canapé, unrecorded to this day is in a private collection in France.  It is stamped twice by Pothier and is close to two other canapés by Pothier both à chassis. The first is part of the Wrightsman collection given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv. 1976.155.167). It is illustrated by Pallot, op. cit, p. 202 and also by Francis Watson, The Wrightsman collection of Furniture, Volume I, New York, 1966, p. 56. The second canapé is part of a collection of seat furniture by Pothier previously in the collection of Henry Ford II until it was sold at Christie's New York, 12^th November 1981, lot 215.

None of the chairs cited above including the offered pair  from this suite carry any inscription or label to confirm who their original owner may have been.

The Crespi Provenance:
In 1952, when Mario and Fosca Crespi decided to settle in via Sant' Andrea, in Milan, the preferred location of many Italian aristocrats and bourgeoisie, they embarked upon a momentous restoration project of their palazzo, which took a very long time to restore to its original splendour.

Mrs Crespi, known as Fosca Crespi to the Milanese, and simply Fosca to her inner circle of friends was described by her friends as follows:"She is an incredible woman, with an extreme vitality, interested in everything, she writes twenty letters per day, she plays the piano, studies English, she has met Toscanini, Eleonora Duse, d'Annunzio, she is the daughter of Puccini..." The latter reference was due to her mother's marriage to Puccini after Fosca was born, who was treated as a daughter by him.

Her husband, Senator Mario Crespi, was one of the owners of the  Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. When Fosca entertained her guests in the drawing room, the sumptuous interior included, 'emerald velour and mahogany by Jacob. On the wall, gondolas by Caneletto on the water of the Grand Canal. A child by Gainsborough, the piano belonging to Puccini.'

Fosca Crespi presided over a residence with six salons, 200 antique and Renaissance Italian bronzes, 18 Canalettos, Guardis, several old masters paintings as well as many Italian primitives, all surrounded by precious Louis XV and XVI pieces of furniture. She stated in an interview with Eveline Schlumberger op. cit., "The collections, that is my husband. The pieces of furniture, then that is me." Furthermore she stated, "Because I love France. When I love the things coming from a particular country, you have to try to do everything you can to have these objects within your house, don't you agree?"

Jean-Jacques Pothier (active until c.1785), received Master 1750:
After getting married, Jean-Jacques Pothier settled as a menuisier-ébéniste in the rue Mazarine from where he moved to the rue de Bourbon-Villeneuve around 1775. In the mid 1780's, he is mentioned as a former received master which implies that he stopped working at this time. There is almost nothing recorded regarding Pothier's clientèle, even though he manufactured very fine pieces and was known for his early neo-classical Louis XV style and his designs show a high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. The quality of his work was so high that he had the opportunity to work on a regular basis with Georges Jacob which is evidenced by a number of pieces virtually identical to those coming from the celebrated Jacob workshop. His work covers the time between the mid 18th century and the last years before the revolution. His style became highly significant in the late 1760's with the neo-classical revival. Pothier became very important for his unique and delicate composition of transitional and pure Louis XVI elements.