Description

What I like

I like this pair of “ponteuse” chairs (bridge chairs) first of all for their rarity: indeed, this furniture was created in the 18th century to be able to follow the game, in salons specially dedicated to this activity, then the prerogative of royal, princely and of the wealthy big financial bourgeoisie. The seat carpenters invented these chairs where you knelt, so with a very low seat, to watch the players.

I also like the fact that our chairs are stamped with a great seat carpenter, Jean Baptiste III Lelarge, who delivered seats to aristocratic French families and wealthy foreign clients, including the King of Portugal.

As a result, these chairs are extremely refined: they have been lacquered in imitation of rosewood to match the precious furniture; and above all, all the details are exquisite: in particular the small foliated console at the back of the backrest, supporting the nicely oval cuff: this is a detail that the players will see, so Lelarge sculpted the back nicely, which is rare. Finally, the molding is bold and the feet artistically fluted.

Rare seats, with an exceptional finish: yes, these bridge chairs deserve all the attention!

Technical description

Pair of ponteuse chairs in lacquered wood in the style of rosewood, the rectangular backrest with an oval cuff supported at the back by a molded winding carved with foliage garlands, low seat, belt with connecting dice with flowers and tapered legs with grooves adorned xith asparagus like motives, surmounted by a ring.

Stamped IB Lelarge.

Louis XVI period.

Green velvet trim.

Dimensions and weight

Height: 96 cm- 37,79’’ – Width: 57 cm- 22,44’’ – Depth: 56 cm-22,05’’

Weight: 9 kg- 19,84 lbs each

Mix & Match

These ponteuse chairs by J.B. Lelarge are quality seats: so they must be considered as works of art, which we use but also contemplate. As a result, they will rub shoulders with both the quality antique furniture you may have and the artist’s furniture, in a decor that Henri Samuel would not have denied: indeed, an Expansion console by César, a sculpture or armchairs d’Hiquily, would be perfect partners.

But also deep contemporary sofas, even the pair of G10 armchairs by Pierre Guariche, whose lines are also stretched and the design perfect down to the details.

This is also why I would surround these very particular chairs with the sculpture “Colonnes, 1966” by Guillaume Leunens with a patina reminiscent of zinc, I would place between them the Italian “Cylinders” coffee table from the 1970s, whose chrome will send back the design of chairs fragmented and multiplied. I would hang the “Composition” around 1950/1951 by Edgard Pillet, whose geometric abstraction is also demanding, or else I would choose the bronze palette of “Africano N1” from 1961 by Enrico Cervelli, to recall the color of the fake rosewood.