Amazing Concave Sofa

Amazing concave sofa in natural and painted wood resting on six curved legs. The belt of the sofa is carved with two important motifs presenting a shell enclosing a flower, crosspieces, windings and stylized leaves. The armrest consoles are carved with foliage. The uprights and crosspieces of the backrest are hidden in the upholstery. Regency period Usual restorations, modern trim H. 91 x L. 134 x D. 81 cm At a time when the search for comfort is becoming more and more present in the requests of sponsors, the sofa stands out as a piece of furniture. essential furniture in a living room. Halfway between the bench seat and the daybed, the sofa finds its audience, seduced by its comfort and practicality. A numerous and varied typology is developing, and our sofa is a beautiful illustration of the creativity of carpenters, who undoubtedly in order to save space in their interiors, create corner sofas. Pierre Kjellberg raises the hypothesis that these sofas were intended, in the past, for a rotunda room which explains the curved shape (idea taken up by Bill Pallot in the book “The art of seating in the 18th century in France » published by Gismondi editions). We find in particular, in the inventories of Madame de Pompadour's collections, the mention of a sofa and several so-called "encoignure" benches (Pierre Verlet, French furniture of the 18th century, Presses Universitaires de France). Several reference works also mention sofas of this kind, which remain a rarity on the market, an extravagance of furniture production in the 18th century. We can therefore put our sofa into perspective with an extremely rare corner sofa, made by the carpenter Nicolas Heurtaut, today in a private collection but published in the books “French furniture” by Pierre Kjellberg (Guy le Prat publisher)