From the pen of French architect and sculptor, Gilles-Paul Cauvet (1731 – 1788), this wonderful letter is double-sided with a two-page spread, which presents a challenge for how to display it; but we’ll solve that with a double mat and a handcrafted double-sided Louis XVI frame, placed on a pedestal and therefore visible from either side.

Cauvet was a prominent sculptor, architect, and designer at the French court. Sculptor for Louis XVI’s brother, the comte de Provence, later Louis XVIII, he also directed the Académie de Saint-Luc, the guild of decorative painters and sculptors. He designed carved boiserie (wood paneling) and furniture for houses in Paris. Many wood carvers were influenced by his book of engraved designs for interiors and furniture, which was published in 1777.