A man and woman in period costume. The chair that the woman is sitting on, Poetry or History personified as a cupid, belongs to the set of two settees and ten chairs whose upholstery covers were woven at Gobelins Manufactory, Paris, probably under the supervision of Jacques Neilson (1714-1788), after design by François Boucher (1703-1770) and Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1733-1755). The covers were woven circa 1779, and the frames are nineteenth century. She is writing at a writing desk and filing cabinet (bureau plat et cartonnier), attributed to Etienne Doirat, made between 1720 to 1732. The man stands behind her, in front of a Beauvais tapestry, "La Pipée aux Oiseaux (The Bird Catchers)." Label accompanying photograph in album reads "HEH 34 Library room of Huntington Art Gallery, with figures. Writing table, with Cartonnier; of tulipwood and ormolu, Louis XV period." Another copy of a wider image has MS notes identifying the people as Don Vest (?) and Nell Webb.
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