Research
Of mahogany. The shaped back of each chair with central splat, the cane seat above a plain frieze, each chair raised on four square tapering legs, each leg of sabre form.

A model of chair with very similarly-shaped back to the present set was made by the well-known Parisian ébéniste Pierre Antoine Bellangé (1757-1827), who rose to prominence under Napoleon and King Louis XVIII.

Bellangé was received master in 1788 and he became a leading furniture supplier for the Imperial and royal courts. He was appointed ‘ébéniste breveté du Garde-meuble de la Couronne’ under the Restauration, providing furnishings for the the emperor’s apartments at Saint Cloud and several rooms at the palace of Laeken in Brussels, as well as the châteaux of Meudon and Compiègne, and the Palais des Tuileries. His renown extended across the Atlantic, resulting in the commission of a suite of furniture from US President James Monroe for the White House in 1817. In 1821 The Bazar Parisien commented on “the quality, richness and elegance of the furnishings to emerge from Bellangé’s workshops, his reputation further enhanced by his commission of the Pavilion de Saint Ouen for the Comtesse du Cayla. He was later assigned to the Director General of Furniture by Charles X, but by 1825 was succeeded by his son, Louis-Alexandre Bellangé (1796-1861).

Pierre Antoine’s chairs are stamped and date from circa 1820-25 (figure 1). The model was also executed by Louis-Alexandre circa 1830, and notably appeared in the deliveries for the prefecture de Blois (figure 2). These examples, like the present chairs, have caned seats.