Exceptional Set Of Four Empire Apparat Armchairs

Exceptional Set Of Four Empire Apparat Armchairs With a flat, square backrest, molded frame and upper crosspiece adorned with rosettes and palmettes, the cylindrical armrests are furnished with cuffs. The front legs are rectangular, the slightly arched front cross member is adorned with five rosettes. The set is gray lacquered with golden relief patterns. Attributed to Marcion. Empire period (Use and maintenance restorations. Very light acc. New trim) Dimensions: H: 100; L: 59; P: 52 cm Pierre-Benoît Marcion was born in Paris in 1769 to a father who was a second-hand merchant. In 1798 he advertised for the transfer of his workshop-store "Aux Egyptiens" and offered a large choice of mahogany furniture adorned with gilded bronzes. His first official order was very important, since in 1801 he delivered 82 mahogany chairs decorated with inlays to the Conservative Senate. From 1805 he regularly supplied the Imperial Furniture Repository and thus became one of the main cabinetmakers working for Napoleon, the second after Jacob-Desmalter. His commissions concern the Petit Trianon, the Tuileries Palace, that of Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau and Laeken. In addition to the seats Marcion also produced dressers, secretaries, libraries, consoles, desks, sinks for the Emperor ... Orders will become very significant from 1808, mainly for the Trianons, the Palaces of Compiègne and Fontainebleau, in 1813 for Monte Cavallo in Rome. Then the business becoming difficult it will only have small orders (Rambouillet and Compiègne). On the occasion of the valuation of his stock in 1816, the auditor of the Garde-Meuble wrote that his furniture “combines the perfect quality of the materials, the finish of the preparation, the regularity of the proportions… Mr. Marcion is one of the cabinetmakers of Paris who has furniture made with the most perfection ... ”.