Jean Baptiste Boullard armchair
Circa 1760. In the style of Louis XV. Baroque style, beechwood with volute carvings. Fully structurally restored, with certain parts replaced to ensure safe everyday use. Polished finish, archaic upholstery. With twisted cord trim. Marked inside the armchair, on the inner rear stretcher with stamped mark: “J.B. BOULARD”. Museum-quality piece.
Size: 100 x 71 x 80 cm
Jean-Baptiste Boulard (1725 Paris – March 28, 1789) was a Parisian cabinetmaker who was received as a master on April 17, 1755. In 1775, the Menus commissioned him to create “the canopy for the throne of King Louis XVI for the coronation in Reims.” From that point, his career appears to have risen steadily; he occasionally worked in the service of the Menus, but in 1777 he entered the service of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. In the early part of his career, he produced chairs in the Louis XV style, and later mainly in the Louis XVI style. His works can be identified by few distinguishing marks, except for the frequently occurring fluted palmette motif at the top of the legs.
Alongside Georges Jacob and Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené, Jean-Baptiste Boulard is considered one of the finest Parisian chair makers of the second half of the 18th century. Like his two aforementioned colleagues, he worked for wealthy private clients, including the Comte de Choiseul, as well as for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. He participated in furnishing most of the royal residences. After the cabinetmaker’s death, his widow continued supplying the aforementioned institution until 1792. Thereafter, she supplied the Imperial court until her death in 1808. His son, Jacques Michel, continued the activity until 1823.
Today, many of his chairs can be found in major public collections, notably in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée Carnavalet, the Musée du Louvre, and the Musée National du Château de Versailles, as well as in the Metropolitan Museum, and in Budapest at the Museum of Applied Arts, inv. no.: 5484.
Analogy: https://www.anticstore.com/ebeniste/boulard