SALON FURNITURE FOR THE CHATEAU DE SULLY SUR LOIRE - Lot 53

SALON FURNITURE FOR THE CHATEAU DE SULLY SUR LOIRE A set of molded, carved and gilded beechwood seats, including four "fauteuils à la Reine" and a "canapé à oreilles". The curved belt is adorned with large stylized palmettes flanked by foliate clasps, set against a lattice background. It stands on four curved legs, finished with acanthus scrolls and joined by an X-shaped brace. Covered with "à la grenades" tapestry on a white background. Paris. Regency period. Armchair dimensions: 106 x 70 x 59 cm Dimensions sofa : 105 x 195 x 70 cm Usual restorations to tapestries Provenance : Former Château de Sully sur Loire collection, early 20th century. Paris sale Hôtel Drouot. February 26, 1942, lot 79 (sold for 395,000 FF, see attached catalog) This exceptional Regency salon furniture, covered with a rare gros point tapestry decorated with poppies, palms and pomegranates, was part of the former collections of the Château de Sully-sur-Loire, former home of the de Béthune family, Dukes of Sully and Peers of France. Indeed, our furniture appears in-situ on a postcard of the grand salon of the Château de Sully dating from the early 20th century (fig. 1). Unfortunately, the absence of inventories to date means that we can't prove with certainty that our furniture was present in the château as early as the 18th century. With their structure linking a cross-braced crotch and a fully-covered backrest with an arched upper crosspiece in the middle, these salon chairs can be dated stylistically to the 1725s. They could therefore already have entered the Château de Sully collections at the time of the 5th Duke Maximilien Henri de Béthune (1669-1729), husband of Marie-Jeanne Guyon (1676-1736), widow of Louis Nicolas Fouquet, Comte de Vaux, or that of his cousin Louis Pierre Maximilien de Béthune (1685-1761), to whom the duchy fell on the death of the former. In 1942, the furniture was still at the château and was part of the auction held on February 25 of that year, presented and illustrated under number 79 (fig. 2) of the sale catalog. At the time, the ensemble comprised five fauteuils à la reine and a sofa. The sale's expert described it as follows: "Salon furniture comprising a wingback sofa and five high-backed armchairs, in natural wood, carved with shells and flowers. Cambered legs, joined by a crosspiece. They are upholstered in antique "à la grenade" tapestry on a white background. Régence period". Although described as being in natural wood at the time of the 1942 sale, the fact that they were made of beech wood supports our hypothesis that the set must have been in gilded wood in its original state, a state in which we find it again today. Château de Sully-Sur-Loire, mentioned as early as 1102 as "the castle that controlled a bridge over the Loire", has belonged to just three families over the centuries: the first lords of Sully, then their descendants belonging to the de la Trémoille and de Béthune families. In 1396, Gui VI de la Trémoille launched the construction of the present château, entrusting its completion to Raymond du Temple, architect to the King and the Duke of Orléans. The château remained in the de la Trémoille family until 1602, when Maximilien de Béthune (1559-1641) purchased from Claude de la Trémoille the barony of Sully-sur-Loire, which became a duchy-peerage in 1606, making the great Sully, superintendent of Henri IV's finances, grand master of French artillery and grand voyer of France, the first duke of the name. Between 1602 and 1607, the Duc de Sully was the driving force behind major renovations to the château, which he enhanced with a park. The château welcomed many prestigious guests, including the young Louis XIV fleeing the Fronde and Voltaire in 1715 fleeing Paris. The last renovation work on the château took place in the 18th century, with the construction in 1767 of a wing linking the keep to the petit château, containing the reception apartments of the Dukes of Sully, the seat of a brilliant social life. During the 20th century, the château underwent major upheavals and was severely damaged by fire in 1918, then twice by bombing during the Second World War. As a result of the enormous damage caused by the fire in 1918 and the bombardments that took place during the Second World War, the Dukes of Béthune decided to disperse part of the contents of Château de Sully at auction. However, the château remained in the family of the 1st Duke of Sully until 1962, when it was acquired by the Conseil Général du Loiret. Expert: Stéphane Pépe