Furniture, De La Fosse, Encoignure Demi Canape
“Encoignure Demi Canapé” is an original 18th-century French copper engraving illustrating the elegant furniture and interior design of the Louis XVI period. Published in Paris in 1771 as part of Jean Charles de La Fosse's important Ameublement series, the print provides a detailed record of fashionable French furniture design during the reign of Louis XVI.
The title may be translated approximately as “Corner Cabinet and Half Sofa.” The plate presents furniture intended for the refined interiors of 18th-century France, when the arrangement and ornamentation of domestic interiors were becoming increasingly important expressions of taste, status, and fashion.
Jean Charles de La Fosse (1734–1789) was a French architect, ornamental designer, and engraver whose work is closely associated with the development of French decorative arts. His Ameublement engravings are particularly valuable to collectors and historians of French furniture, interior design, architecture, and the decorative arts.
La Fosse's furniture designs are regarded as among the important visual records of the transition toward the Louis XVI style, characterized by a return to more restrained classical forms, symmetry, geometric ornament, and references to ancient Greek and Roman design. The series also documents the sophisticated furniture vocabulary of pre-Revolutionary France.
The Ameublement series was produced with the participation of several prominent engravers, including Berthault, Daumont, Foin, Joly, Tardieu, and Mademoiselle Thouvenin. The resulting plates are valued today as both decorative works and historical documentation of 18th-century French furniture and interior furnishings.
This example has black hand-gouached margins, adding a dramatic presentation to the finely engraved furniture design.
Original antique print
Copper engraving by Jean Charles de La Fosse (1734–1789) and others
From the Ameublement series
Published in Paris, 1771
Black hand-gouached margins
A few minimal signs of age and use
Image: 21 × 31.5 cm (8.2 × 12.4 in.)
Page size: 28 × 38.5 cm (11 × 15.1 in.)
$240.00 — 40% OFF → $144.00
