Knock-off

You might not know it if you never make anything from scratch, but the “designing” process, the “deciding the dimensions” and the “how it will be done” part takes time, often even more time than the “just making the stuff” part. That’s why, if you can copy and use a design that’s already been done, you’ll save the better part of the effort.

Here’s how we did just that in copying an existing fire screen for a new series of furniture.

For what it’s worth, you can have a look here at how the first screen was used.

Directoire Armchairs

A pair of Directoire armchairs.

The Directoire style, which follows Louis XVI style, is characterized by its greater sobriety and simplicity. All the more so when I make the furniture!

Note how the back legs and the sides of the back are made of a single and curved piece of wood.

Round About Chairs

Fed up with those boring armchairs, always the same with a square back?

Well here is at last a different model, with a round back.

A pair of two new Louis XVI style armchairs « en médaillon »

This type of armchair is still said to be « à la reine » (à la queen) because the back is flat, but is also « en médaillon » (or with a circular back).

Two armchairs with square backs and two with round ones from a series of six new armchairs

Four More Armchairs

Four more armchairs entered the Palace’s collections today. The model is simillar to the one we’ve shown here so far, although the colours are different. Hopefully we’ll have a different model to show you some day soon!

Cupboard Love

A lot of ancient conveniences of daily life — such as cupboards — have all but disappeared from the rooms of the palace of Versailles where courtiers had them made to order, removed or refitted almost on a daily basis during the Ancien Régime. Today, I am eager to equip those rooms and appartments with those much needed cupboards and have them rebuilt where the ancient plans show they once stood.

Today’s cupboard will be fitted not far from the stairs shown in yesterday's post, in a very small new project that is going on right now.

More coming soon, hopefully!

A big thank you to J. C. de Frontenac who helped me with installing the new cupboard!

Screens

The meuble of a room, is the similar fabric shared between all objects that can receive fabric or are made of fabric such as chairs, armchairs, settees, curtains, portières (curtains hung over doors), but also screens or fire screens. Oftentimes, in the grand houses of the upper aristocracy of the Ancien Régime, you had to have a summer meuble and a winter meuble. That is to say, you would have the fabric on all your matching furniture changed generally twice a year according to the season. The fabric covering your bed, chairs, etc. would usually be of lighter colours in summer (white with a flower pattern for example) and a little bit darker and richer in winter (such as a rich red velvet). 

If possessing two entirely different set of furniture was beyond your means or too cumbersome, you could maybe have your chairs reupholstered (which doesn't sound very practical), or, more conveniently, you could own a set of what are called fauteuils à châssis (frame chairs), that is to say armchairs the upholstery of which was conceived to be removable in an instant to be cleaned or changed.

On the new screens I just ordered to complete the furniture of my office, the panels are removable according to the the above mentioned principle, which means I could easily replace them to match the fabric of another set of chairs, and keep the gilded frames. Not that I intend to do so!

A red and gold screen matching the furniture recently delivered for my personal office.

The frame of the same screen before gilding was applied.

Though those screens are relatively short to be usable in rooms with low ceiling such as the entresol room where my curent office is, I sent both of them to the storage room because my office is really too small and full already.

At last, you have to know that during the Ancien Régime and the following regimes abiding by the same etiquette rules, not any idiot could use gilded furniture, certainly not in the King's Palace. You had to belong to the royal family or at least be a very important prince. Please, note that the same principle will apply today, and that gilded furniture will be exclusively reserved to a select few (very few), and in general delivered only to apartments by special permission of His Grace the Duke.

The set of furniture with matching fabric delivered to my office so far.

Causeuse

A causeuse is an armchair which has been stretched sideways to accommodate two persons. It can also resemble a bergère in its construction (with a second loose cushion on top of the first one, lower legs and closed sides), but the model above is only based on a standard armchair. I've ordered this new seat to complete the series of chairs furnishing my office. 

The frame of a newly made causeuse chair, as large as two standard armchairs.

Two armchairs and a causeuse along the walls of the small office I currently occupy in the palace.

The furniture composing the series made for my office so far. The room is so small all those chairs barely fit in there, but this furniture would follow me if I am to move back to a bigger office in the future. This is why I'm not afraid of ordering too much chairs, even if I have to store some of them elsewhere for now...!

Theme And Variations

This is a new variation in colour for the armchair model introduced this year. (See the model's bare frame in details here.) I ordered a series of four armchairs in gold and red fabric for my personal office. (When seated at my desk however, I still prefer to use a modern and very comfortable armchair.) 

My personal office at night in the King's Pavilion of  the Palace of Versailles

A panorama of the different colours in which our model of armchair has been made so far. From left to right : in gold and off-white fabric for the Duchess's Golden Cabinet, in white and orange for the Duchess's Grand Cabinet, and in gold and red for my personal office. At last, a bare frame kept as a template in our workshops.

One More

The last piece of furniture to enter the palace's collection is this Louis XVI style chest of drawers. It has been ordered by a very prestigious occupant to replace an older and damaged one. This new one is made of ebony, a marble top and gilded bronze. Set in a private apartments, it is currently not visible to the public.

If You're Happy Then Have A Laugh

This small Louis XVI style guéridon, or small circular table, is now part of the furniture of the Duchess's Grand Cabinet. It has been ordered specially to stand in front of the newly acquired fire screen, between the two matching armchairs. In fact, this combination of objects (screen and guéridon), serves the same function (shielding you from the fire and offering you a small surface to write on or to display some small item) performed by a single object in the case of the small screen-table displayed in the Golden Cabinet.

Smoke Screen

The frame of a Louis XVI style fire screen.

If you were a nobleman in the 17 th, 18 th, 19 th and up to to the 20 th century at least, and you had a fireplace, you had to have a fire screen. Made of wood and fabric, sometimes intricately decorated and set in front of the hearth, the fire screen was supposed to protect the room and its occupants against projections from the fire or intensive heat. Even when a fire was not burning, the screen, if it was large enough, could offer protection against draughts coming from the chimney shaft. The only thing screens couldn't offer you protection from in Versailles was smoke, for the palace's flues are said to have been particularly inefficient at evacuating it. 

But maybe more importantly, in the houses of the aristocracy during the Ancien Regime, the fire screen was an indispensable element of decor, and its colour and fabric were often to match those of the room's furniture. 

The screen delivered today for the Duchess's Grand Cabinet is in a very elegant Louis XVI style, and in perfect harmony of colour and style with the armchairs. (What are the armchairs in harmony with is another question!) Also note how the curves of the screen subtly echo those of the mirror frame above the fireplace.

Armchairs and matching Fire Screen in front of the fireplace in the Duchess's Grand Cabinet.

Well Kept Secrets

When watching photos of one of the last posts on this blog, I have been disturbed by one empty space along a wall of the Golden Cabinet (Duchess's Apartments). On the picture above, you can see that the panel on the right side of the mirror is cut to lead way to an other room. So, of course, nothing should stand there in the way. But on the opposite side, underneath the two paintings, you definitely had space for something. After some thinking and wondering, I came to the conclusion that a small secrétaire à abattant, (or fall front desk) would be ideal to fill the space. There is another door on the secrétaire's left, so the piece of furniture had to have a small enough depth not to be an obstacle when entering and exiting the room.

The fall front desk I found, in pure Louis XVI style, has got the ideal size. It is made of mahogany wood, has got a marble top and displays some gilded bronze elements, perfectly matching the furniture already in place. It is a welcome detail in the room's decoration but not meant to be the center of attention (this role will be played by a large Riesener commode, now still in our workshops, that will furnish the back wall, where the transparent screen now stands).

If you think you might not be allowed to see the real thing in Versailles (the Golden Cabinet is a private room of the Duchess, accessible by invitation only), here are at last some close up pictures of the secrétaire.

         

   

         

   


         A small Louis XVI Fall Front Desk in the Duchess's Golden Cabinet.

More Armchairs

We were writing in the last post about the name given to armchairs meant to be placed along a wall and essentially kept there with no other purpose than contributing to the decor of a room. Such armchairs are called fauteuils meublants. You may see in the picture above (taken today in the Duchesse's Golden Cabinet) how such seats may be arranged on either side of a fireplace for instance.

For really seating, two other identical armchairs have been delivered. Those will be used as fauteuils courants, or armchairs positioned in the centre of the room and more freely moved around according to needs. To complete the furniture, two matching bergères will be delivered soon.

An armchair in the Duchess's Golden Cabinet, of the same model as those furnishing the Grand Cabinet, but in gold and off-white tones.

A less formal arrangement of armchairs, set around a table for tea or conversation. 

Three armchairs in the Duchess's Golden Cabinet.

Armchairs

An armchair from a pair delivered for the Duchess's Grand Cabinet.

This type of Louis XVI armchair is said to be à la reine, which means it has a straight back. An armchair with a curved back is said to be en cabriolet. 

Armchairs meant to be moved freely around a room, like this pair, are called fauteuils courants. On the other hand, armchairs placed against a wall and staying pretty much at the same place all the time are called fauteuils meublants (furniture armchairs).

Have A Seat!

It has been months, or even years since we had in mind to build chairs to refurnish the palace. At last, a prototype of a Louis XVI style armchair has been built. This prototype won't be painted, varnished or finished further and will serve as a template from which to build (hopefully), many more such chairs... So, stay tuned, we hope to show you some completed models in the near future!

A Louis XVI style armchair (only the bare frame of it) made today in our workshop. The armchair is made of 20 different elements.

Slideshow

The above video is a first attempt at creating a very basic slideshow using the YouTube Slideshow Creator. The photographs shown here are almost all from the blog; so nothing new if you're familiar with its pictural content already! The original 4:3 photos have been re-framed to a 16:9 screen size (the one used by YouTube), hence some awkward framing... But, once again, this is only a test as they say! (And of course, while all this fancy stuff is being done, the construction and decoration work in the Palace have come to a standstill! Gee!)

Chest Of Tiny Drawers

It seems it is furniture season again! Today, this tiny little Louis XVI style chest of drawers has been added to the collections. It is without any unnecessary ornament and let its style, proportions and craftsmanship speak for themselves. It has been commissioned with a room and a place in mind, but as all furniture in the palace, it might well move around according to whim or necessity! 

If you're interested in high quality furniture, please select our Furniture label underneath this post to have a look at other items in the Palace's collection.

Golden Cabinet Update

The collection of furniture, paintings and artefacts gathered in the Duchess's Golden Cabinet is slowly growing. Recently, a Savonnerie rug, a small table, a screen table, a partition screen and a bucket containing logs for the fireplace have been added to the room. Two new oval portraits represent the sister and a brother of Louis XVI of France. What is more obviously lacking now are some chairs, but be assured that we plan to add at least four armchairs to the furniture. When its furnishing is complete, please note that the room will only be visible on personal invitation from Her Grace the Duchess.

An older view of the Golden Cabinet where the Riesener chest of drawers from the Grand Cabinet had been harboured during refection work in this last room.

Garniture

The Golden Cabinet or Salon Louis XVI received some garniture today. Garniture, as you may know is "a set of decorative accessories, in particular vases" (as defined for us by the Oxford English Dictionary). In fact, four gouaches by landscape painter Van Barenberghe, two pairs of vases and a restored clock are now part of the precious artefacts decorating the cabinet. The two Molitor encoignures are also, at least for now, part of the room's furniture.

Two very rare golden vases from the Shang period of the Hang Dynasty are exhibited on the mantelpiece. In the corners of the room, each encoignure supports a pair of Japanese hexagonal jars from the 17th century in the Emari ware style. The four gouaches, at last, bring a welcome and soothing touch of blue to the decor, counterbalancing the omnipresent gold.

Oh, and did you notice we made the skirting board too?