A mahogany and carved giltwood fauteuil de bureau by Jacob Frères, stamped RUE MESLEE, after a design by Percier and Fontaine, Consulat, circa 1796-1803

the concave back with above incurving stiles and a pierced diagonal trellis splat centred by gilt flowerheads, the lightly curved and moulded armrests on winged lion monopodiae on paw feet, with a silver-embroidered purple velvet loose cushion seat on splayed back legs, stamped under the rear seat-rail RUE MESLEE

Gros & Delettrez, Paris, 21st December 2012 lot 195 (75,000E).

This handsome armchair is in fine conserved condition, with minor marks and scratches consistent with age and use. One back foot re-tipped; the gilding of the monopodae with retouching and hardly noticeable construction cracks. Very attractive and ready to be placed.
"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:
Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 578.
Daniel Meyer, Le Mobilier de Versailles, Dijon 2002, Vol. I, n.59 p.232-35. 
Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Mobilier Français Consulat et Empire, Paris, 2009, p.27 fig.25, p.125, fig. 215.
Christophe Huchet de Quénetain, les styles Consulat & Empire, Paris, 2005, p. 104, fig. 73.  

This impressive fauteuil is directly based on a design appearing in a drawing of dating to around 1795, attributed to Percier and Fontaine, showing five chair sketches for the Jacob workshop (private collection, Paris, illustrated by Samoyault, op. cit., p.27, fig.25), reproduced here in fig. 1.

The innovative and pioneering architects Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853) were the most important exponents of the archaeologically-inspired strain of late French neoclassicism that would evolve into the mature Empire style after 1800. Georges Jacob (1739-1814, maître 1765) was arguably the greatest menuisier of the late Louis XVI and Directoire periods and was one of the leading exponents of this style and translated the aforementioned designs into furniture.

This fauteuil differs slightly from the original design in that its splat is formed by a diagonal trellis with gilt paterae at the joints, whereas the drawing depicts a pierced splat with straight vertical bars. The diagonal trellis back does appear, however, in one of the other chair designs of related form, and Georges Jacob had already used a diagonal-and-paterae motif on the celebrated and highly innovative suite of solid mahogany seat furniture designed by the painter Hubert Robert that was supplied to the Queen’s Dairy at the Château de Rambouillet in 1787, traditionally regarded as one of the earliest manifestations of the ‘style étrusque’ in French furniture illustrated by Meyer, op. cit., no. 59, p. 232-35. Jacob also produced Greco-Roman style furniture based on antique prototypes designed by the painter Jacques-Louis David, which the artist then incorporated into his pictures of the late 1780's.

An unsigned armchair circa 1795 attributed to Jacob that faithfully adheres to the original design is in the château de Malmaison illustrated by Samoyault, op. cit., p.27, fig.29, and this is likely to be the prototype of what proved to be a successful model that was replicated on several occasions. In 1796, Georges Jacob transferred his business to his two sons, Georges II and François-Honoré, who used the stamp JACOB FRERES RUE MESLEE from 1796 until the death of Georges fils in 1803, after which the surviving brother continued working under the name Jacob-Desmalter using the stamp JACOB. DR.MESLEE and transforming the firm into the largest and most prolific cabinetmaking enterprise of the Napoleonic Empire and principal furnisher of the Imperial residences. The present fauteuil retains a partial estampille from the former period and dates in all likelihood to the late 1790's, when the brothers had yet to fully develop an independent style and continued to produce variations of their father’s designs. 

Another version of this model, stamped SENE (Jean-Baptiste Sené, 1748-1803, maître 1769), is in the Mobilier National, Paris, illustrated by Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p. 578, and a further example bearing the stamp of Jacob Frères and with a diagonal trellis back filled with large roundels from the collection of Prince Henry De la Tour d’Auvergne Laraguais was sold Sotheby’s London 3th May 2012, lot 59 (possibly the same chair illustrated in Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p. 283).

A fauteuil of the vertical splat ‘Malmaison’ design is visible in the portrait of the composer François-Adrien Boieldieu by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845), painted in around 1800, (Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts). All the previously mentioned examples are in solid and veneered mahogany, and the present fauteuil is particularly distinctive among the surviving recorded models in having gilded front legs, using a rare technique of gold powder and varnish to emulate the effect of gilt bronze. The decorative rosettes and palmette scrolls on the back are also highlighted in gold, creating a subtle effect of opulence and warmth that offsets the somewhat austere formality of the classical silhouette.

Also see a drawing for an armchair with a trellisback on lioness supports, illustrated by Huchet de Quénetain, op. cit., p. 104, fig. 73, by Pierre-Antoine de La Mésangère, Meubles et Objets de goût:, Guéridon, Trépied, Fauteuil de Bureau...(Musée Carnavalet, Paris), reproduced here in fig. 2.

The overall inspiration for the model derives from antique furniture excavated from archaeological sites in and around Rome and at Herculaneum and Pompeii, reproductions of which were widely disseminated through pattern books and engravings in the second half of the eighteenth century. The winged lion monopodia was a classic support element for large marble tables and appears in plate 25 of the fifth volume of sculptor Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet’s Fragmens d’architecture, sculpture et peinture dans le style antique (1804).  It was particularly favoured as a structural component by Jacob Frères and would also appear in their case furniture, notably as back-to-back uprights for the monumental bureau mécanique supplied for Napoleon’s study at the Tuileries in 1800, now at Malmaison, illustrated by Samoyault, p.125 fig. 215.