Style Neo-Renaissance / Ref.15699

Eugène GRASSET (designer) and FULGRAFF (cabinetmaker), set of 6 carved oak chairs, Paris, 1880–1885

Set of six carved oak chairs, designed by Eugène GRASSET (1845–1917) and executed by the cabinetmaker FULGRAFF in Paris between 1880 and 1885.

This model is representative of neo-Renaissance decorative furniture in the historicist style popular in the late 19th century, as promoted by Grasset in his ornamental design work.

The chair backs are topped with two carved palmette finials. The X-shaped base rests on lion paw feet at the front and twisted fluted columns at the back, giving a wave-like effect. The seat rail is decorated with openwork scrolling foliage, a vegetal motif that is echoed in the uprights adorned with acanthus leaves. The seat and bandeau backrest are upholstered in the original ochre ribbed fabric, secured with stylized flower-shaped nails.

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris houses a reconstructed “Eugène Grasset Dining Room of 1880,” which includes two additional examples of these chairs. This room is a re-creation of the one that once stood in Charles Gillot’s hôtel particulier on Rue Madame. In 1879, this collector and printer commissioned Grasset to decorate and furnish the main rooms of his residence. Naturalistic and fantastical elements coexist in this interior.


Chaises Eugène Grasset et Fulgraff, Salle à manger Eugène Grasset 1880, Collections du Musée des Arts décoratifs. Tous droits réservés.
This chair model was published in several works, including Eugène Grasset et son œuvre, published in Paris in 1894.


C. Lemonnier, G. Kahn, C. Saunier, Eugène Grasset et son oeuvre, La Plume, Paris, 1894, dessin du modèle illustré p.12