Thrones – plain or lavish, outsized or on a human scale – always involve the same symbolism of "seated" authority. This exhibition brings these outstanding objects, many of which are masterpieces, into dialogue with the décor of the palace of Versailles, a place of the exercise and representation of power if ever there were one.
The exercise of sovereignty associates two separate ideas: authority and power. Authority gives the person holding it a lasting, legitimate character; it "seats" him or her on foundations that are much more stable than those offered by power, which, ephemeral and hard to acquire, is based on the hero's victory over his adversaries. That is why, symbolically, images depict the representative of authority seated and of power, standing, or moving.
The exhibition in the Grand Apartments illustrates this characteristic of symbolic thought, associating authority with the seat of he or she who holds it and with its theatrical representation.
"Thrones in Majesty" features exceptional pieces on loan from the Vatican, Beijing's Forbidden City and royal palaces in Madrid, Warsaw and other European capitals. Emblematic chairs, including those of King Dagobert, Napoleon, the restored king Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII's sedia gestatoria are on display with Taino, African, Chinese, Thai and other thrones in a fitting setting.
