Jb Demay, Ceremonial Armchair In Painted And Gilded Wood. Empire Period

This armchair with a square back and pilaster front leg is an Empire period work dating from around the 1810s, in painted and gilded wood. It presents an architecture, an ornamentation and an execution which immediately makes us think of Pierre Marcion and Jacob-Desmalter, most of whose unstamped models are attributed to them. However, fortunately this armchair is stamped under the front seat crosspiece, despite the wear we can still read “Demay Rue de Cléry” for Jean Baptiste Demay working on rue de Cléry during the Empire period. Thanks to this valuable information we were able to find a pair of identical armchairs stamped by the master during a Sotheby's sale dedicated “Art under influence: Napoleon” which took place on September 22, 2021, these armchairs presented under lot number 88 are identical in every way except the finish which is different, in fact those from Sotheby's have a later gold finish, luckily our armchair, until then kept in a private collection, has not been touched! It therefore presents its original finish without restoration where we can admire the finesse of the repair as well as the quality of the lacquer and gold gilding. Always with a concern for conservation and thus offering us a true graphic document, the former collector took care to preserve the original coverings so that we can still admire the original trimmings despite the wear. The seat upholstery was later reworked and supplemented with springs. Some seat models preserved in the Mobilier National collections are close to our model, such as the armchair under the inventory number GME-1683-000. Demay rue de Cléry, carried out his activity at the beginning of the 19th century in the workshop of his father-in-law Claude Sené, in fact it was in 1806 that Demay moved to 43, rue de Cléry, supplier of the Garde-meuble imperial in the years 1811, its activity subsequently declined with the end of the Empire in 1814. Our seat dates precisely from this period between 1806 and 1814. This seat is presented to you without restoration, with chips and missing as well as significant wear on the fabrics. Dimensions: Back height: 94 cm Width: 61 cm Depth: 52 cm Seat height: 44 cm