A gilt-bronze-mounted mahogany table `à l'Antique' designed by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) executed by Georges Jacob (1739-1814) Louis XVI, circa 1785-89

the circular top above a gilt-bronze band on a triform plinth base with fluted canted stiles surmounted by a stylised anthemion, the sides with a flaming torch flanked by scrolling acanthus enclosing a patera the griffin feet flanking a stylised anthemion on a  platform base with projecting angles

By descent in Jean-Louis David's (1748-1825) family until 1955
A brass plaque inside the actual pedestal states that the table was left to David's great-granddaughter by David's grandson, Jules David Chassagnol, thence by descent
Private European Collection

Alvar González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi: Arte di corte del XVII e del XVIII secolo, 1986, Milan, Vol. II, p. 54, fig. 82-83-84, illustrated.

In overall very good conserved condition. The colour of the mahogany is less orange and slightly darker and the gilt-bronze is more golden and attractive than in the catalogue photograph. The top is slightly warped with some very minor chips and scratches. There is a hairline construction crack in the top which is hardly noticeable and can easily be filled or left and is visible towards the rear of the top on p. 189. There is a screw missing from the underside of the metal batten beneath the top but this can be left. There is some very minor rubbing and chips to the gilded feet as visible from the catalogue photograph. There is a very small triangular patch to the veneer on the bottom right and a small rectangular patch to the bottom left of the door, as visible on p.185 of the catalogue photograph. The door has one long and another shorter vertical construction crack which can easily be filled or left as visible in the same photograph, and a small gap at the side of another panel where it joins the fluted stile, consistent with shrinkage and commensurate with age.There is also a very minor vertical crack approx 4cm long at the top of the two panels on the base, one of which is visible on p. 186 which can be left. There is a slight gap between the gilt-bronze band and the wooden top due to shrinkage and some sections of the band can just be repinned. The gilt-bronze mounts are slightly tarnished and would benefit from a light clean according to taste. The table is on brass castors.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Alvar González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi: Arte di corte del XVII e del XVIII secolo, 1986, Milan, Vol.I, pages 70 and 72; Vol. II, p. 49, fig. 65, p. 51, fig. 75, p. 52, fig. 78 and 79, p. 54, fig. 82-83-84, p. 55, fig. 85.
Alvar González-Palacios, La documentation Française, Louvre conférences et colloques « David contre David », 1993, pages 1002-1003.
E. J. Delecluze, Souvenirs, Louis David : « Son école et son temps », 1855, pages 20-21.
Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Mobilier Français Consulat et Empire, 2009, pps. 121-122, fig. 207.
F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Furniture , Gilt Bronzes and Mounted Porcelain, Carpets, Vol. II, New York, 1966, p. 548.
 
This outstanding table, thoroughly researched by Professor Alvar González-Palacios, can be considered as one of the most important precursors of what would then be defined as the `Empire style". The cahier des memoires of Etienne Delecluze, one of the students of David's Atelier, reveals that David designed various pieces of furniture in order to use them subsequently in his own paintings. David's designs were carried out by the cabinet-maker Georges Jacob, the founder of the illustrious dynasty of Parisian cabinet-makers. 

Furniture designed by David can be seen in some of the painter's masterpieces including, amongst the others, "the Horaces, Brutus, Paris and Helena". More specifically with reference to the offered table, it appears in the celebrated painting "Les Licteurs rapportent a Brutus les corps de ses fils", realized by David in 1789 and now conserved at the Louvre Museum, Paris-reproduced here in fig. 1. In the painting, although the table is covered by a table cloth, the tripod base with its gilt-bronze mounts is identifiable.
David's source of inspiration for this table can be traced to one of the engravings by Bertheault, in Abbot Saint-Non's 1792, `Voyage Pittoresque à Naples et en Sicilie' reproduced here in fig.  2. Furthermore, one of the drawings of this table made by David `Table antique avec des vases' , following one of his trips in Rome, is now conserved in the Cabinet des Dessins of the Louvre, is after Saint-Non's etching-reproduced here in fig. 3.

Another source of inspiration for the gilt-bronze mount with the flaming torch and rinceaux on the base of the table, can be seen in a Fragment of the Ara Pacis of Augustus in Rome (Museo Nazionale, Rome), illustrated by González-Palacios, op. cit., p. 1002, fig. 207, reproduced here in fig. 4. This decoration emphasises the Antique inspiration for this furniture by basing it on an Antique monument.

David was one of the protectors of Jacob and was one of the first to order furniture in the `Antique 'style for his own use and also as demonstrated by the painting, as an accessory in his atelier.

The table, executed well before 1789 (when the painting of Brutus was finished), still under the reign of Louis XVI, represents the birth of what is nowadays called the Empire style, yet still under the Ançien Regime. 

A very similar guéridon, attributed to Jacob Frères or Jacob-Desmalter, with a white marble top but virtually identical base with a patera flanked by husks on the stiles and rosettes on the apron instead of anthemions, is illustrated by Samoyault, op. cit., p. 122, fig. 207, now conserved at the Ministry of Defence in Paris, reproduced here in fig. 5.

This piece is of  extraordinary interest not only because of its intrinsic quality, elegant proportions and superlative craftsmanship but also because it represents a starting point for the history of Empire furniture as it must be dated around 1785 and at the latest before 1789.

Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825):
He ranks as one of the most influential French painters in the Neoclassical style and was considered to be the pre-eminent painter of his time. In the 1780's, his history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo towards a classical severity which was in tune with the moral climate of the final years of the Ançien Régime.

David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794). The former was imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power and upon his release, he aligned himself with yet another political regime, that of Napoleon I. It was at this time that he developed his Empire style. David had numerous pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.

Jacques-Louis David was born into a prosperous family in Paris on 30th August 1748. When he was about nine his father was killed in a duel and his mother left him with his prosperous architect uncles. He went to work as an apprentice to François Boucher (1703–1770), the leading painter of the time, who was also a distant relative. There David attended the Royal Academy, based in what is now the Louvre. He then went to Italy in 1775 and whilst in Rome, he studied the great artists. In 1779, David was able to visit the ruins of Pompeii, He later sent the Academy two paintings and both were included in the Salon of 1781. After the Salon, King Louis XVI granted David lodging in the Louvre and the latter was commissioned by the government to paint "Horace defended by his Father", but he soon decided, "Only in Rome can I paint Romans." In Rome, David painted his famous Oath of the Horatii, in 1784. For the salon of 1787, David exhibited his famous Death of Socrates. For his next painting, David created The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons. The work had tremendous appeal for the time. Before the opening of the Salon, the French Revolution had begun. The National Assembly had been established, and the Bastille had fallen. The royal court did not want propaganda agitating the people, so all paintings had to be checked before being hung. When the newspapers reported that the government had not allowed the showing of The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, the populous was outraged, and the royals were forced to back down. The painting was a Republican symbol, and obviously had immense symbolism during these turbulent times in France. In his attempt to depict political events of the Revolution, David was venturing down a new path in the art world. Tragically, David was leaving a theatre when a carriage struck him which later proved fatal and he died on 29th December 1825.

Georges Jacob (1739-1814), received master in 1765:
Georges Jacob (1739-1814) was the most celebrated and outstanding Parisian menusier in second half of the 18^th century during the reign of Louis XVI. He founded a dynasty of furniture makers that prospered for almost one hundred years.

Born at Cheny to a peasant family, he arrived in Paris at the age of sixteen and was a furniture apprentice, although it is not known to whom. On September 4^th 1765, he became a maître and set up his workshop in rue de Cléry. Unlike most of his menuisiers-ébénistes, he practiced both crafts and his greatest output was of chairs. He was already enjoying great success early on in his career as by 1773, he was already working for the Garde-Meuble and employed to repair some Louis XIV medal cabinets in the Boulle technique from the château de Saint-Cloud and at least one of these cabinets which bears his stamp which is now in the Louvre.
He was named in 1781, ébéniste-ordinaire to Monsieur le Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII later on) and he was one of the fournisseurs du Menus-Plaisirs from 1781 and was patronised by Marie-Antoinette. In 1775, he acquired much larger premises at 77 Rue Meslay and which was used by his family until 1825. In 1788, he was made deputy syndic of his guild and but for the Revolution breaking out he would have become a syndic himself in the following year. His illustrious clients included the Comte d'Artois, the younger brother of Louis XVI, the Prince de Condé, the Duc de Chartres, the Prince of Conti to name but a few. He also worked for foreign clients including the Prince of Wales, later George IV, Gustavus III of Sweden, Prince Kinsky etc. He enjoyed great wealth and a distinguished position in society until the fall of the monarchy, when their flight caused him great financial loss.

During the Revolution, his previous aristocratic links caused him to be denounced to the Committee of Public Safety but the protection of the celebrated painter Jacques-Louis David who had employed him in pre-revolutionary days, saved him on each occasion.

Jacob then changed  to making other types of furniture at the start of the Revolution and concentrated more on ébénisterie, using more mahogany, maple, satinwood and other native woods and adopting more neo-classical designs. In 1796, he handed his business over to his two sons, Georges and François-Honoré-Georges, and retired.
His immense output, included chairs in the Louis XV but more prolifically, the Louis XVI style was his innovation more than any other menuisier. He was probably the first Parisian craftsman to use solid polished mahogany for chair-making.
According to Watson, op. cit., `the furniture he made for David's studio seen in the painting of Les Amours de Paris et Hélène of 1788 and other works, was inspired by the decoration of Greek vases. It anticipates the extreme neo-classical style that his sons were to develop with great success under Napoleon.' He made, in 1791, a mahogany table which later belonged to King Joseph, Emperor Napoleon's brother, which shows even closer affinities with post-Revolutionary styles. He was the first to introduce the sabre leg in anticipation of the Empire style. The painter Hubert Robert supplied the designs in the `Etruscan style' for the advanced neo-classical furniture that he made in mahogany for the Queen's Laiterie at Rambouillet.