Attributed to Jean-Baptiste-Bernard Demay
Pair of chairs with openwork backs
Mahogany and mahogany veneer
Pegged seats
Paris, circa 1800
A very fine pair of chairs in the Consulat style. They stand on sheathed front legs with claw tips and sabre-shaped back legs. The belt is solid. The banded back is curved in the Etruscan style with an elegant scrolled palmette motif in the centre.
Jean-Baptiste-Bernard Demay (1758 -1848)
Cabinet maker. Mastered Paris on 4 February 1784. He practised for around thirty years on rue de Cléry. From the start of his career, he received commissions for the Queen's furniture. Many of his works bear the same stamp, including a graceful armchair in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and two Montgolfière chairs in the Musée Carnavalet.
This attribution is plausible due to the specific later form; the front legs as well as the openwork pattern.
Condition report :
Excellent condition of the woodwork. Reupholstered as original with a Lelièvre fabric with light mauve highlights; and alternating gold nails on black braid. Modernity is two hundred years old!