Executive Period Armchairs Attributed To Jacob

DIRECTORY ARMCHAIRS Attributed To JACOB Notice to Collectors! Exceptional and rare In solid mahogany and mahogany veneer, the files on the Etruscan armrests supported by figures of sphinges, resting on baluster feet at the front and saber at the back, red silk trim applied 'a stylized pattern braid Height: 102 cm. , Width: 70 cm. Depth 68cm. Sitting on a Georges Jacob chassis, received master in 1765 This "Etruscan" seat by its refined shape, the flared back and the saber feet are part of the neoclassical trend of the end of the 18th century. Sphingians or "chimeras", drawn from Antiquity, whose artists find models in Italy and in particular in Rome, are used here as a support for the armrest. Elegant, fine and yet martial in appearance, they stand out from the earlier models that Georges Jacob used in the 1780s among a palette of ornaments (1) without having the imposing, hieratic and standardized character of the models of the Empire period declined following the return from Egypt, notably by the Jacob. These same sphinxes adorn the furniture of Madame de Récamier, an armchair of which is illustrated in Léon de Groer's Decorative Arts from 1790 to 1850, Office du Livre, Friborg, 1985, p. 128 fig. 226 and p. 136 fig 248. Juliette Récamier (1777-1849), wife of a wealthy Parisian banker, was one of the most famous and admired women of her time. Its interior, one of the first decorated with "Etruscan", was considered to be the temple of taste and elegance. The fashion for decoration was then defined and adopted by the society of the time. This is evidenced by his presence, with a few variations, in several paintings by Marguerite Gérard (1767-1837), pupil and sister-in-law of Fragonard, who became famous in the late 1780s for his intimate portraits of personalities, from the world of the arts and the spectacle. . Let us cite the different versions of La bonne nouvelle, Sotheby's New York sale, May 28, 1999, lot 207, Christie's New York sale, Segoura Collection, October 19, 2006, lot 32, or even illustrated in the Marguerite Gérard exhibition catalog, artist in 1789, in Fragonard's studio, Cognacq Jay Museum, September 10 - December 6, 2009. In several portraits of young woman and child (Musée des Beaux Arts de Dijon or sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, November 23, 2009, room 7) this model appears again. Among the other variants of which this same model of sphinge or chimera supporting the armrest is the highlight, let us quote: - An armchair stamped by Henri Jacob, illustrated in Denise Ledoux Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXème siècle, Editions de l 'Amateur, Paris, 1989 p. 371 - An armchair stamped by Jacob Frères 1796-1803 (Mobilier National) ibid. p. 315. The belt is carved with stylized palm leaves and lotus flowers. - A shepherdess by Jacob Desmalter whose sphinges and claws of the feet are in gilded wood is reproduced in Le XIXème siècle Français, Connaissance des arts collection, Hachette, 1957, p. 66 ill.1 - A pair of armchairs, stamped by Jacob Frères on rue Meslée, the four saber feet, sale to Aurillac, Me Goolen, February 18, 2001 (1) Furniture of Marie Antoinette's boudoir at Fontainebleau delivered by Georges Jacob in 1785-85 (Arch. Nat. O2. 454) including an armchair preserved in Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian museum and a fireplace screen, New York, Metropolitan Museum.