Rare & Important (Circa. 1750s) Signed French Louis XV Dining Chairs - Set of 12

Description

Set of Twelve Period Louis XV Carved Walnut Dining Chairs, 18th c. and later, including 10 side chairs and 2 … more Set of Twelve Period Louis XV Carved Walnut Dining Chairs, 18th c. and later, including 10 side chairs and 2 armchairs; 8 side chairs with stamped signature on back seat rail, 2 matching benchmade side chairs to complete the set, and pair of Louis XV fauteuils; each with cartouche-shaped padded backs and seats with floral carved crests and seat rails, carved cabriole legs and foliate feet; attributed Tassinari & Chatel gold silk damask upholstery. Stamped with mark of Jean Godo (1728-1758) of Lyons.
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There are 6 Jean Godo Chairs known to have been in the Versailles Inventories.
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The list that follows the regulations and statutes of the corporation only specifies that Jean Godo was admitted to the master's degree in 1752. The GODO imprint was recorded on two pretty Louis XV chairs and a suite of four chairs that went on public sale in Versailles in 1993.

The life and works of Jean Godo (or Godot) are quite unknown. However, after being able to demonstrate, in 1993, following a public sale, that a series of chairs, bearing its stamp, was unquestionably of the Lyon type, it was proven that Jean Godo therefore belonged to the guild of carpenters of Lyon. And it was by consulting some of their records of 1757, that we also learned that Godo had been admitted to his master's degree in 1751. Each piece of his production, which does not seem to have been very abundant, shows different styles. Its first models are characteristic of the early reign of Louis XV, with carved bas-reliefs and unmolded feet finished in acanth leaves. We note a little later, chairs very inspired by the creations of Pierre Nogaret. And finally, his latest works are identified with the very end of the Louis XV style, with back of donkey folders and molding feet without any sculpture.
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Jean Godot was born around 1726 in Paris, he was the son of François Godot, a master carpenter on Rue de Cléry in Paris, and Marie Angélique Chauvrillier. Jean then lived in the heart of one of the most important carpenters' districts of the 18th century. His father has been a master carpenter since at least 1718 and his aunt Marie Madelaine Chauvrillier is married to Jean Sené, patriarch of a long line of renowned master carpenters. One of his sisters, Marie Marguerite, married Philippe Joseph Pluvinet, still a carpenter companion, who would also become a master carpenter recognized for his talent. At the death of his mother on December 20, 1745, he was almost twenty years old with many years of experience and work in making seats. At the end of the 1740s, he decided to leave Paris and settle in the city of Lyon.

In November 1751, Jean Godot lived in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-La-Platière for several years as a carpenter companion. On January 11, 1752, he married Denise Chabert in the same parish surrounded by the master carpenters Pierre Nogaret and François Girard and the sculptors François Canot and Barthélémy Charles Maugé with whom he worked. Barely a month later, on February 14, 1752, his son Jacques was baptized in the parish of Sainte-Croix in the presence of François Canot, he lived only a few days. Jean is then qualified as a master carpenter, a valuable indication for his date of receipt at the master's degree. On May 14, 1752 he was a witness at the wedding of François Noël Geny, a few months later he was the godfather of his daughter Antoinette Geny born on February 2, 1753. At the beginning of the year 1753, Jean is still close to François Girard since his wife Françoise Murat is the godmother of his daughter Françoise Jeanne born on January 5, 1753. The baptism of Catherine Godot took place in the parish of Sainte-Croix on December 15, 1753. Jean Godot spent a few months in the parish of Saint-Paul where his son Jean François was born on November 4, 1754. His brother François, the godfather, also came from Paris to work in Lyon as a carpenter. François Sené, sculptor, is a witness to this baptism. He is close to Jean because he will be the godfather of his son François Marie, born on January 12, 1756.

Jean's brother, François, is again the godfather of one of his children, Aimée, born on April 7, 1757 and baptized in the parish of Sainte-Croix to which he has returned at least since the beginning of 1756. The year 1758 saw the birth of his daughter Antoinette, baptized on May 31, 1758, the godfather is François Noël Geny, Pierre Nogaret and Sébastien Carpentier are witnesses. On July 22, 1758 his son Jean François was buried, Jean Godot died suddenly two days later on July 24, 1758 at the age of 32.

Only a few seats marked with its GODO stamp have reached us, they are of the Louis XV style with, for the most part, still motifs from the Regence such as shells. Jean Godot arrives in Lyon with all his Parisian experience of carpentry in seats and will instill new ideas when this group of carpenters begins to hatch that will create the Lyon style around Pierre Nogaret. Master carpenter for only six years, Jean Godot had an essential role in the carpentry in Lyon seats. less