Collection of a Distinguished Family from Westchester

All stamped P H. Poirie, possibly the designs by Joseph Belanger, circa 1775

Each with molded arched back, the crest rail rounded and finely carved with beading and foliate ornament, upholstered in pale silk damask woven with floral sprays; the open arms with padded rests terminating in carved scroll supports, the uprights fluted and enriched with delicate husks and beaded borders; the seat rail of serpentine outline, carved with a contineous beaded and foliate detailing; on tapering fluted legs, headed by carved rosettes and terminating in toupie feet.

Height 34 inches (86 cm), width 24 inches (61 cm), depth 20 inches (51 cm), seat height 16 1/2 inches (42 cm).

Philippe Poirie (Poirier) reçu maître in 1765.

Provenance:

Supplied to Marie-Catherine Colombe for the Pavillon Colombe, France.
M. Rehnaz, who purchased the château in 1893.
M. Guy, mayor of Saint Brice.
Thence by descent to Colonel de Mondonville, son-in-law of M. Guy.
Thence by descent to Mme. de Mondonville.
Mrs Burns, sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, and then by descent to her daughter.
Viscountess Harcourt, by whom sold at Christie’s London, 22 June 1927, lot 156 (6,861 gns.).
Christie's London, December 14, 2005, lot 333.

Footnote:

Philippe Poirié was the nephew of Noël Poirier and established his workshop on the rue de Charenton in Paris. His production appears to have ceased shortly before the Revolution. While his Louis XV seat furniture is relatively undistinguished, Poirié is better known for his Louis XVI models, particularly fauteuils à dossier médaillon, characterized by well-balanced proportions, assured craftsmanship, and crisply carved, sometimes austere ornament. His decorative vocabulary includes bead motifs, interlacing patterns, and ribbon-tied elements, with some chairs raised on distinctive baluster legs. More elaborate suites, such as the set preserved at the Louvre (comprising two canapés and ten fauteuils), demonstrate a heightened decorative richness, notably with foliate crestings.

Pierre Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 2002, pp. 710,711.

THE PAVILLON COLOMBE

On 4th September 1769, André Vassal bought Carremont, near Brice, and demolished the house. With the help of the architect Joseph Bélanger (1753–1818), Vassal constructed a petite ‘folie’ the Pavillon Colombe for his mistress Mademoiselle Marie-Catherine Sarrasin (called Marie-Catherine Colombe). Sparing no expense on its sumptuous interiors, he commissioned the greatest artists of the period to embellish the property for Marie-Catherine in particular employing
her initials ‘M.C.’, cooing doves emblematic of love and Italian furniture that recalled her Venetian upbringing. Marie-Catherine and her two sisters, Marie-Thérèse (1754–1837) and Marie-Madeleine (1760–1841), were among the more celebrated ‘Colombes’ (French for Dove), appearing under the stage name in Paris during the late eighteenth century. Fragonard painted portraits of the sisters, one of which, entitled Girl holding a Dove, believed to be a portrait of Marie-Catherine, was encased in the boiserie above the fireplace at the Pavillon Colombe. Marie-Catherine later abandoned the theatre for ‘galanterie’ and was once arrested finding herself in the same prison as her seducer,Lord Massereene. Marie-Catherine inhabited the Pavillon until the death of Vassal.
The pavilion was restored after the war by the American romancière Edith Wharton (1862–1937), who purchased the property in 1919. Edith affectionately described the Pavillon as her ‘little château’. On visiting the pavilion one of her friends wrote: Here was such a high goal of perfection in food and wine, in talk, books, furniture, pictures, and the art of living, that to savour it truly exerted one’s highest mental faculties.