A pair of Régence giltwood fauteuils by Jean Baptiste I Tilliard, circa 1720

Jean-Baptiste I Tilliard was a prominent furniture maker of the Régence and Louis XV periods, and Pierre Kjellberg notes that he “played a central role in the evolution of the rocaille style”. ¹ He was received by the guild as ‘master’ in 1717 and by the 1730s was employed as a menuisier-ordinaire to the French royal household. His work tracks the evolution of the soft, relaxed forms of the Régence to the profuse, highly fluid Rococo style around the middle of the century. The present set of chairs date from his earlier period: while the carving has clearly taken on the aquatic flavour that would become so characteristic of the Rococo, its well-executed carving is still more localised and in lower relief than some of his more extravagant later work. The treatment of the feet on this model is similar to some of Tilliard’s showpieces in the MET (1982.60.72), and the V&A (W.5:1,2-1956). The suite of unstamped chairs GMT 22633/002 in the Mobilier National is strikingly similar to the present model, including the treatment of the ornament to the knees and the shell motifs to the armrest terminals.

¹ “il joue un rôle capital dans l’évolution du style rocaille”. P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1992, p.832.