A Pair of Royal Louis XV Gilt Wood Pliants, attributed to Nicolas Quinibert Foliot (Paris, 1706-1776), and or Francois I Foliot, dit le Jeune, (1720-1761) Circa 1757-59, each with a loose cushion upholstered in yellow silk damask, on a folding X-form molded and scrolling frame branded with crowned ‘ML’ in a circle, incised respectively with inventory numbers ‘10820’ and ‘10822’, red painted numbers ‘6522’ and ‘6520', and with black painted inventory number ‘473’, one with an inventory number 'C. 110' and with further inventory marks and labels. Height: 27 in. (69 cm) Width: 78 in. (71 cm) Depth: 20½ in. (52 cm) Provenance: Delivered circa 1757-59 to Madame Louise-Elizabeth (1727-1759), Madame Infante, Duchess of Parma and daughter of Louis XV, for Colorno Royal Palace in the Duchy of Parma. Marie-Louise of Austria (1791-1847), wife of the Emperor Napoleon I, Duchess of Parma. Acquired from Giuseppe Rossi, Turin, 1968. Turinese Private Collection. This pair of exquisitely carved pliants, or folding stools, is of a specific model that was almost exclusively supplied to the Royal court. The crowned ‘ML’ brands and various inventories numbers, allow us to trace their provenance back to one of the most iconic patrons during the reign of Louis XV, his daughter Madame Louise-Elizabeth, Madame Infante, Duchess of Parma (1727-1759). MADAME ELISABETH AND THE COLORNO ROYAL PALACE

Madame Louise-Elizabeth de France was the eldest daughter of Louis XV, who in 1739 married Infant Don Philippe of Spain. In 1748, as a result of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, she became duchess of Parma and she and her husband established their court in the most fashionable French taste. Madame Infante made three visits to Paris - in 1749, from September 1752 until September 1753 and from September 1757 until her death in December 1759 - each time making extraordinary purchases, both in quality and quantity of bronzes d’ameublement and mobilier to furnish her palaces in Parma. The best-known examples being the two chandeliers by Jacques Caffieri delivered to her favourite residence at Colorno, now in the Wallace collection (Num. F83 and F84). On her return from the first two visits she was followed by thirty-four and fourteen wagons respectively. With their superb curved lines they are indeed reminiscent of the production of Nicolas Quinibert Foliot such as the pair stamped by him at Versailles (inv. V4949; V4950) and the pair he probably supplied to the Royal Court of Sweden, subsequently sold Christie’s, Paris, 24 June 2002, lot 160. THE ML BRAND

This pair of stools is branded ML, a mark placed on all furniture in the Royal palaces of the Duchy of Parma during the governorship of Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria between 1816 and 1847, who inherited the palaces and their contents previously furnished by Madame Elizabeth. Another group of pliants of this model, part of a set of six and almost certainly originally from the same suite, is now in the Palazzina di Stupinigi near Turin, and is illustrated in A. González-Palacios, Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1995, p.56. This set also bears the brand of Marie-Louise of Austria as well as the brand CR separated by a crown. This latter brand was applied in 1855 on the orders of the duchesse Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois, widow of Carlo III, to the furniture in the ducal palaces in the duchy of Parma. When not followed by a further letter, such as a C for Colorno, the pieces in question were probably either located in the Ducal Palace in Parma or in the Garde-Meuble. In all likelihood the present pair of stools was

originally part of this suite, remaining in Parma throughout the reign of Marie-Louise but presumably having left before the 1855 inventory was carried out which would explain the presence of the ML brand and the absence of the CR brand. Another pair of related pliants, of similar shape but carved with entwined floral garlands, probably from the same workshop, also bear the ML brand. This pair is marked ‘C. 1313’ indicating they were originally placed at Colorno and was part in the 20th century of the collection of Arturo López Willshaw, sold at Sotheby’s, Monaco, 23-24 June 1976, lot 107. The ‘C. 110’ mark visible on the present stools, clearly indicate they were also originally placed at the ColornoPalace

Foliot, Rue de Clery, Paris. Foliot was a member of a family that engaged in the same craft from the reign of Louis XIV to late in the Louis XVI period. The date when he became a maitre is not known (perhaps because he and his whole family worked principally for the Crown, though he does not seem to have been appointed an artisan privilégié du Roi), but quite early in his career he set up his own establishment in the Rue de Clery, where his brother also worked. Amongst his earliest patrons was the Duc d’Estrées. Born into a family of chair makers and furniture carvers, Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot distinguished himself as a skilled menuisier running a prosperous workshop for forty years in Paris in the 1700s. For much of his career, he worked for the French court, sending furniture to the palaces of Versailles, Compiègne, and Fontainebleau. This earned him the title of menuisier du Garde-Meuble du Roi (Furniture-Maker to the King's Household). In one year alone, he delivered 60 beds, 50 screens, 4 settees, 135 armchairs, 468 chairs, 21 benches, and 84 stools, for the sum of 18,200 livres. He was a jure of the guild from 1750 to 1752 and a churchwarden (marguillier) of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle, which suggests that he was of some standing in his entourage. He supplied furniture to the king and to Marie- Antoinette, to the Comtesse de Provence, Mme Elisabeth, the Comte d’ Artois, Mme du Barry, and others. The greater part of his work was in the Louis XV style, and much of it, made before the establishment of regulations compelling craftsmen to stamp their furniture, is therefore not identifiable. It is likely, however, that his position as an important fournisseur de la Cour enabled him to exercise considerable influence on the evolution of the Louis XV chair, which he continued to make well into the Louis XVI period. Many of his chair frames were probably carved by the sculptor Babel, who worked continually with Foliot’ s brother Francois, known as Foliot lejeune. On one occasion at least he collaborated with the sculptor Guillaume Dupre on a throne made for Louis XV in 1767. Bardou likewise gilded some and probably

many of his chairs. Chatard gilded the chairs for Foliot’ s most celebrated set of furniture, the so-called “Mobilier des Dieux” (named after its tapestry upholstery), once in the Double Collection and given to the Louvre by Isaac de Camondo (catalogue nos. 162-171), the greater part of which, according to Verlet, was made for Marie-Antoinette’s use at Choisy about 1770. Guild records reveal that four out of the five employees in Foliot's small workshop went on strike in 1749. At the court inquiry, Foliot's wife complained that he had "obtained an important order from customers whom she could not name, and [he] felt that the workmen were obliged to return to work." The order may have been from either royalty or the nobility, as Foliot's private clients included Madame Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma. Despite labour difficulties, Foliot earned enough money to purchase two houses in Paris and a house in the country, where he kept an excellent wine cellar. His widow continued his business after his death in 1776.

Chairs and stools by Foliot are in major museums of the world, including the Metropolitan and the Paul Getty Museum in United States, the Ermitage Museum in Russia, the Petit Trianon, The Musée Carnavalet, the Louvre and in Versailles. One of our pair One of Versailles Pair