Jean-Baptiste-Claude SENE (1748-1803):
Master carpenter in seats on May 10, 1769, he can be considered the equal of Jacob. At the beginning of his career, he offered his services to a large private clientele, then from 1785 he became the official supplier of the Royal Furniture Store, from his workshop at 118 rue de Cléry under the sign of the “Big Rosary” until 1791.
Like Jean-Baptiste Boulard, he worked for the residences of Fontainebleau, Compiègne, Saint-Cloud and Versailles. He delivered furniture of the highest quality to the King and Queen, as well as to Madame Elisabeth, Madame Louise, and various court officials. Sené’s commissioned furniture is characterized by the meticulous sculpture he entrusts to talented sculptors with whom he collaborates: Nicolas Vallois, Pierre Laurent, Alexandre Régnier. This team work exclusively dedicated to furniture allows the production of exceptional furniture.
Often compared to the work of the cabinetmaker Jacob, his seats are nevertheless different in several respects: back flanked by detached small columns, sobriety of the seats, twisted fluting, leafy crown at the top of the legs, ionic capital, flame-shaped ornament … It should be noted that, like Jacob, he nevertheless avoids the inside of the belt of his seats in order to give them greater lightness. Sené sometimes sacrificed himself to exoticism, then during the Revolutionary period he was directly influenced by Anglomania.
His production will be continued by his son Claude II Sené. Unfortunately, his production remains to this day less well known than that of Jacob: the absence of stamps and the dispersion of furniture during the Revolution may explain this phenomenon.
