.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Jacob-Desmalter, flourished from 1803-13.
Though no direct design for these chairs exists, the military helmets that adorn their backs can be related to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their Receuil de Décorations Intérieures, which was first published in 1801. Percier and Fontaine collaborated with Jacob-Desmalter, a partnership between Georges Jacob and his son François-Honoré-Georges lasting from 1803 until 1813, who were unquestionably the greatest cabinet-makers of the Empire period. Percier and Fontaine and Jacob-Desmalter worked together in the production of furniture after the designs of the former, which was then supplied to the Imperial palaces in France, Italy and Belgium - principally L'Elysée, Compiègne, Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. Amongst furniture produced through this collaboration for the Château de St. Cloud was a suite of four bergères in 1803 for the boudoir de l'Impératrice, now at the Château de Malmaison (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes du XIX Siècle, Paris, 1957, p. 207 and p. 335) and a pair of X-form tabourets (sold Christie's London, 5 July 2001, lot 26). These chairs originally belonged to a larger suite. At least two other pairs of this model are known to exist: one pair also with Vicente Coll Antiques in 2000, not stamped with the St. Cloud stamp; and one pair sold from Mathias in Paris, 24 June 2009, lot120, stamped with the St. Cloud stamp, with the same branded inventory marks, and with an additional number 990 to one.
The 1804 inventory of St. Cloud lists '1 canapé, 6 fauteuils et 8 chaises, en bois doré, sculpté et couverts de soie cramoisi' in the cabinet de travail of the Emperor. The inventory also lists the furnishings of the subsequent rooms and this includes '4 chaises en bois bronzé, couverts en crin' in the Antichambre de granit, which may have been moved at a later date.
Though no direct design for these chairs exists, the military helmets that adorn their backs can be related to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their Receuil de Décorations Intérieures, which was first published in 1801. Percier and Fontaine collaborated with Jacob-Desmalter, a partnership between Georges Jacob and his son François-Honoré-Georges lasting from 1803 until 1813, who were unquestionably the greatest cabinet-makers of the Empire period. Percier and Fontaine and Jacob-Desmalter worked together in the production of furniture after the designs of the former, which was then supplied to the Imperial palaces in France, Italy and Belgium - principally L'Elysée, Compiègne, Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. Amongst furniture produced through this collaboration for the Château de St. Cloud was a suite of four bergères in 1803 for the boudoir de l'Impératrice, now at the Château de Malmaison (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes du XIX Siècle, Paris, 1957, p. 207 and p. 335) and a pair of X-form tabourets (sold Christie's London, 5 July 2001, lot 26). These chairs originally belonged to a larger suite. At least two other pairs of this model are known to exist: one pair also with Vicente Coll Antiques in 2000, not stamped with the St. Cloud stamp; and one pair sold from Mathias in Paris, 24 June 2009, lot120, stamped with the St. Cloud stamp, with the same branded inventory marks, and with an additional number 990 to one.
The 1804 inventory of St. Cloud lists '1 canapé, 6 fauteuils et 8 chaises, en bois doré, sculpté et couverts de soie cramoisi' in the cabinet de travail of the Emperor. The inventory also lists the furnishings of the subsequent rooms and this includes '4 chaises en bois bronzé, couverts en crin' in the Antichambre de granit, which may have been moved at a later date.