Chancellor stool, stamped F. Foliot, Paris circa 1780

Chancellor stool, stamped F. Foliot, Paris circa 1780

Rare stool called "à la chancellière" in gray lacquered beech wood.
Rectangular model resting on four spindle legs rudenté with asparagus and connected to the sleepers by flower dice.
The upper part with three back upholstered in shepherdess, two side panels with recesses and one in the shape of a gendarme's hat at the back.
Traditional trim, natural horsehair on strap, covered with embroidered silk.
"F.FOLIOT" * stamp under the front belt.
Remains of label on the back with the words "stables".

Good condition, in its original old "Trianon gray" lacquer.

Parisian work from the Louis XVI period around 1780.

Dimensions:

Height: 38 cm; Width: 48.5 cm; Depth: 50cm



Origin :

Sale of the Collection of Léon Allard de Meeus, Galerie Georges Petit, June 7, 1910, Lot 163.

Footstools:

-Collection Franck Baptiste, identical model but in gilded wood, bearing the label of Chatard, gilder of the crown furniture.

- Louvre Museum, delivered in 1787 for Marie-Antoinette's office in Saint-Cloud.
- Louvre Museum, two models from the bequest of Count Isaac de Camondo in 1911, one stamped by Georges Jacob and the other attributed to the latter (see. B. Pallot, Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Dijon, 1993 , pp. 142 and 143).
-Christies Paris, former collection of the Duke of Talleyrand, November 26, 2005, lot 201. (delivered in 1788 for the King's Service for the Salon de la Félicité in Saint-Cloud)
-Sotheby's Paris sale of April 27, 2017, Lot 116 (10,625 euros), bearing the inventory number N ° 31 of the storage unit.

Our opinion :

The stool that we present is of the greatest rarity, like the few known examples, it was very probably ordered by the furniture guard of the crown from François-Toussaint Foliot who was one of the major suppliers of this institution.
We do not know much about the exact mode of use of these stools, sometimes called "footstool", "spur stool" or more simply "foot stool" in the records of the storage.
In the 18th century, the chancellor was a stuffed bag for the feet and it seems obvious to us that this type of seat, which often accompanied a bergère to the model, was intended for the comfort of the feet.
However, we can see from the paintings of the time that its use was diverted from the beginning in favor of pets.
Under the aegis of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the issue of animal welfare will take an important place, therefore, little cats and other Pugs will benefit from the same incredible luxury as their prestigious owners.
Cabinetmakers will compete in ingenuity to create comfortable niches, but some parts, previously intended for masters, will be squarely diverted in favor of four-legged companions.
The great collector Léon Allard de Meus also intended our stool for this purpose, presenting it on a small carpet, in the middle of his large ceremonial living room.


* François-Toussaint Foliot (1748 - 1839)
Toussaint-François, born in 1748, took his master's degrees on July 26, 1773.
Then succeeding his mother (widow of François, known as Foliot the younger), he operated the workshop in the rue de Cléry where his father and his grandfather had worked. Attached like them to the service of the Furniture Repository, he provided the Court with a number of fine works in which his brother the sculptor often collaborated. One of his main works was a grandiose bed ordered, at the time of the accession of Louis XVI, for the King's winter room at Versailles, and whose canopy bore a pelican sacrificing itself to its children, a touching image of the King. love of the sovereign for his people. Designed by Gondouin, this piece of furniture was sculpted by Babel, gilded by the widow Bardou, then garnished by the upholsterer Caplin with celestial blue velvet and rich gold trimmings. Among the other pieces delivered by Foliot fils, one notices a four-poster bed, with a Chinese-style imperial, for the Queen's bedroom at the Château de Choisy; the cradles of the Dauphin, Madame Royale and the Duke of Normandy; the carpentry of a throne for the hotel of the French Embassy in Constantinople; a suite of seventy-eight armchairs for the Académie des Sciences at the Louvre; folding garden chairs for Ladies, aunts of the King.
This master left the business in 1786, and since then has lived on his income.