Monkey Business.

My Editor has for many years wanted a comfortable armchair in which she can curl up and read a book for hours.  With fall and winter fast approaching, it was time to take action.  After “test driving” – or rather, test sitting – scores of armchairs, she found her perfect chair and it’s on order.  Part of the process, of course, was picking out an upholstery fabric which would blend in with the rest of our living room. This started a walk down memory lane.
 
More than twenty years ago, when I was a harpsichord maker, I received a commission to reproduce the ornate cabriole stand holding up an 18th century harpsichord situated in a chateau in France.  The instrument was built by a very famous maker, Francois Blanchet in 1733, delivered to the Chateau de Thoiry, 25 miles or so west of Paris, and, miraculously, through the French Revolution, the Franco-Prussian War, and two World Wars is still there in an unrestored state.  It has proven to be a mine of information for those trying to reproduce technologies and practices from nearly 300 years ago – a sort of time capsule if you will.  Here is a link I found showing this lovely old harpsichord: http://www.festesdethalie.org/Thoiry/blanchet%20fixe.html
The fabulous and whimsical decoration was painted by the artist, J. B. Huet, well known for decorating the pre-Revolution salons of Paris.  There is more on him here.
 
This is the background to my story and today’s Blip.  The cabriole stand was duly completed and delivered, looking as if it had been freshly dipped in gold, and was mated perfectly with the harpsichord which would reside on it.  The client was not done: she then commissioned a bench to match the stand.  During the research for this new project, I discovered that the chateau, still owned and occupied by the descendants of the Comte de Thoiry, had commissioned the firm of Brunschwig & Fils to reproduce the harpsichord’s painted decoration on an upholstery fabric.  The client wanted the fabric.  I procured a yard of the material – for $150 a yard, 1993 dollars, remember – from B&F’s New York outlet, found an upholsterer, and the matching bench was duly delivered also.  There was a substantial piece of the fabric left over which I kept, planning one day perhaps to have a couple of throw cushions made up with it.  And here we are, 22 years later considering whether to do so…  They would live on the armchair when my Editor isn’t occupying it.
 
Here, then, is the fabric, and a couple of extra views of the bench, scanned from old photographs.