Les chiens vivent l’ bonne vie en France:
Dogs live the good life in France.
Les chiens are living in style. L O U I S style.
Louis XV Styled Sette Dog Bed. Image: Les Fauves Mondains
In 1693, Louis XIV did a little redecorating at Versailles.
The Sun King created a billard room (salle du billard) and promptly installed his favorite hunting Dogs in the room to live the good life.
Louis XIV wanted to be close to his four-legged friends. The Royal Hounds slept and dined in the room, now the cabinet des chiens.
Louis XV also loved his Hounds.
Polydore, a beloved Dog of Louis XV, was immortalized by Jean-Baptiste Oudry with a portrait in 1726.
Portrait of Louis XV’s Dog, Polydore, by Jean Baptiste Oudry.
If you look closely, you’ll see that Polydore bears a mark on his coat to identify him as a Dog from the Grand Chenil of the King (a cross inside of a triangle).
When Louis XV remodeled Versailles to suit his needs in 1738, he enlarged the cabinet des chiens for his own bedchamber.
Louis XV did not forget his Dogs.
An antichambre des chiens was created where he could keep his favorite Hounds.
Cabinet des Chiens. Image: Chateau de Versailles
From inventory records in the archives, we know that the Royal Dogs lived in style:
“two double niches de chien of bleached giltwood…each one with a mattress of padded red carpeting and bordered by a little braid of aurora-colored trim, and two smaller mattresses of wool and linen.”
If you’re a regular reader, you know that niches de chien is a Dog house or kennel. Well, in this case a really upscale one. We’re talking the finest of furnishings…I mean, just look at the room it was in!
The double niches de chien would have looked something like this…
Double Dog Beds or Niches de Chien. Image: Henryot & Cie.
Handcrafted in the workshop of Henryot & Cie, a French furniture maker since 1867, the Double Dog Bed (Niches de Chien) is fit for…a King, or two.
Niches de Chien. Image: Henryot & Cie.
Only a Royal Hound could appreciate the pattern matching of the fabric, the exquisite carving and the antique painted finish on the Louis XV inspired Dog house.
The bench seat lifts for ease of cleaning, but if you have this Niches de Chien in your home, chances are that someone else worries about those pesky, little details.
Viva la France!
Later, I’ve got to let the Dog out,
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