A pair of Consulat carved mahogany fauteuils circa 1800, one stamped Jacob Freres Rue Meslee

both branded with the inventory marks of the Palais des Tuileries and the Château des Tuileries, stamped with the inventory numbers 21168, and labeled T. S. Petit Appartement de l'Empereur Chambre à Coucher and Cn. Bourienne Chambre à Coucher

Supplied by Jacob Frères circa 1800 for the bedroom of citizen Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (1769-1834), private secretary to Napoleon Bonaparte, at the Château des Tuileries.

Napoleon I's bedroom at the Palais des Tuileries, 1807.

Château des Tuileries during Restauration

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's London, December 2, 1983, lot 114 

D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 304

With some small age and construction cracks. With signs of worm damage to underside. Some minor losses, dents and abrasions to carving at abrasions. In very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne was a French diplomat and friend of Napoleon. He was born in Sens in 1769 and was initially educated at the military academy in Brienne where he became friends with the later emperor. Two years before the revolution, Bourrienne left Brienne for Vienna and then for Stuttgart to pursue a diplomatic career and did not return to France permanently until 1795, when he renewed his acquaintance with Napoleon. His knowledge in international diplomacy was highly valued in Paris and he actively took part in the preparation of the Treaty of Campo Formio. He also accompanied Napoleon on his campaign to Egypt. While serving as French envoy in Hamburg between 1805 and 1810, Bourrienne became increasingly critical of Napoleon's introduction of the Continental System in order to defeat England and was called back to France in 1810 as persona non grata. He eventually became a royalist and after Louis XVIII's hundred-day rule in 1815, he followed the king to Ghent. During the Bourbon restoration he became minister of state, a position he lost after the revolution of 1830. He died in Caen in 1834.

As a close ally of Napoleon, Bourrienne's career advanced rapidly after his return to France in 1795 and when the First Consul moved into the Château des Tuileries in February 1800, Bourrienne followed him. His apartments were furnished in the latest style and many of the pieces were produced by the bothers Georges II Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob, who ran the company Jacob Frères from 1798 until 1803. Among the pieces commissioned for Bourrienne's quarters from the Georges brothers was a set of seat furniture and tables for his salon and the chairs offered here for his bedroom. Further pieces of furniture from Jacob Frères were also ordered for Napoleon's apartments (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 294). As these mahogany armchairs also bear the labels of  the imperial inventory it is safe to assume that these pieces were transferred to Napoelon's bedroom at the Tuileries after he became emperor in 1805, possibly right after Bourrienne was dispatched to Hamburg as special envoy.