Voyeuses - One of my favorite chairs...

A Pair of Royal Voyeuses -  Circa 1789

Sotheby's held the "Treasures, Princely Taste" auction in London on July 3, 2013, where this pair of royal voyeuses -  Circa 1789 (Lot 35)  sold for 698, 500 GBP ($1,051,103).  It was estimated to sell for 200,000 - 400,00 GBP. 

Here is how Sotheby's described it:

A pair of royal carved giltwood and gesso voyeuses made by Jean-Baptiste Sené (1748-1803), carved by Alexandre Régnier and gilded by Louis Chatard. Sené received maître in 1769 and along with Georges Jacob, dominated the production of seat furniture in Paris during the last years of the ancien regime. Sené`s principal clients were the king and queen and he supplied furniture which was largely destined for Versailles and St Cloud. Régnier was one of several favoured carvers who also included Pierre Laurent and Nicolas Vallois, to whom Sené subcontracted work. Louis Chatard was the leading painter- gilder of his day, particularly between 1784-1789 when he seemed to enjoy a virtual monopoly on pieces destined for the king and queen. His label still remains on both of the present Voyeuses.

The Voyeuses are rectangular padded top-rail on fluted wrythen-carved uprights, the lattice splat formed of crescents and scrolled interlaced designs centred with a star, carved to both sides, the bowed stuffed seat carved with foliage and ribbon ties, on spirally fluted tapering legs headed acanthus, each with label for the glider - Louis Chatard.

Dimension: 94cm high, 52 cm wide, and 54cm deep.

Provence: 

Supplied to Elisabeth Philippine-Marie-Hélène de France, known as Madame Elisabeth, (1764-1794) for the salon de Compagnie at the Chateau de Montreuil in 1789.

Sold during the Revolutionary sales and subsequently acquired by Augustin Louis Joseph Casimir Gustave de Franquetot, Maquis and subsequently Duc de Coigny, born 1788. (Augustin was the grandson of Marie Francois de Franquetot, Maquis and Duc de Coigny, peer and Marshall of France, created 1814, born 1737, (entering the King`s service in 1752), and was created Governor des Invalides. He died in 1821. 

The father of Augustin was Francois Marie Casimir de Franquetot, Maquis de Coigny, (1756-1816) who had the rank of Lieutenant General).

Augustin married Henrietta Dalrymple Hamilton (d.1869) and the chairs passed by inheritance to their daughter Fanny (d.1910) who had married Sydney William Herbert, 3rd Earl Manvers (1825-1900).

The chairs passed to their daughter Lady Emily Annora Charlotte Pierrepont ( d.1935) who had married Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp, ( b.1830) as his second wife in 1878. They had two daughters, Lady Agnes Lygon and Lady Maud Lygon. The chairs passed on the death of Lady Beauchamp to Lady Maud who had married Sir Samuel Hoare, subsequently Viscount Templewood. On the death of Lady Templewood , the chairs passed to Juliet Agnes Peel, the daughter of Lady Agnes Lygon, and thence by family descent to the present vendor.

Sotheby's Treasures, Princely Taste Auction Lot 35