A pair of Empire walnut tabourets de pieds, by Georges Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, circa 1810

This pair of tabourets certainly once furnished the interiors of the Empereur Napoleon’s Trianon palaces. In fact, the mark GT followed by numbers corresponds to inventory marks for the Grand Trianon while the mark T followed by inventory numbers corresponds to the Petit Trianon. They were supplied by the skilled menuisiers, father and son duo, Georges Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, most possibly along a suite of seating furniture that would have included a canapé, fauteuils and chairs.

The general shape of the feet is very similar to those of other footstools supplied by Jacob-Desmalter and the upholsterer Darrac to Napoléon at the Grand Trianon (illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon - Meubles et Objets d'Art, Pari s, 1975, pp. 106, 141, 160, 170):
-a pair supplied to the Cabinet du Secrétaire on 20 April 1810 (see Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p.141);
-one pair supplied for the Salon de L'Empereur on 20 August 1810 (see Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p.106);
-a pair supplied to the Chambre de l'Empereur on 24 August 1810 (see Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p.160);  
-and a pair supplied to the Salon du Déjeûn on 20 August 1810 (inv. no. T393C and T392C, fig.1, also illustrated Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., p.170).

Another example by Jacob-Desmalter is at the Château de Fontainebleau (inv. F3483), another two are at the Château de Compiègne in the apartments of the Empress (inv. no. C.290c).

Although there are similarities with the aforementioned examples and the present, none are finely carved with rosettes and leaves to the upper section of the foot or the rails as in the case of the present pair, which also remain unpainted.

Georges Jacob (1739-1814) and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770-1841)

Georges Jacob was born of humble origins in Chény, a small village in Burgundy in 1739. Orphaned at a young age, he nevertheless managed to secure an apprenticeship at a workshop in Paris when he was barely 17, eventually training under the renowned menuisier Louis Delanois (maître 1761). After Jacob received maître ébéniste in 1765 at the age of 26, he established his own workshop on the Rue de Cléry, ultimately establishing himself as one of the leading menuisiers in Paris, and a principal supplier to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette during the last years of the ancien régime. His reputation quickly spread beyond France and he received orders from King George IV of England, Gustavus III of Sweden, and several German princes.

His two sons, Georges (1768-1803) and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (he added Desmalter to his name in 1803 in memory of the family property at Chény called "Les Malterres") followed in their father’s footsteps. The two of them were partners from 1796, established at 77, rue Meslée in Paris. Amongst the brothers first commissions, was the decoration and furnishing of the town house of Napoleon and his wife Josephine in the rue Chantereine and the surviving furniture illustrates the patriotic and symbolic tastes which were so characteristic of the Directoire period heralding the Empire style. The firm’s next major commission was for the Récamiers, important and influential French bankers. At about the same time, at the turn of the century, the firm was commissioned to decorate and furnish Malmaison, by Percier and Fontaine, which was the country retreat of Josephine, where furniture in the ‘goût d’Egypte’ style still remains today. The firm then provided furniture for Bonaparte's apartments at the Tuileries and also exhibited at the second and third public exhibitions at the `Products of French Industry' held in 1801 and 1802 in the courtyard of the Louvre and Jacob-Desmalter received a Gold Medal at the 1802 exhibition.

When Georges II died prematurely, Georges Jacob partnered with his second son and together between 1803 and 1813 they stamped their furniture JACOB D. R. MESLEE.

François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter was the favourite cabinet-maker of Napoleon. For the Tuileries, as Napoleon’s premier residence and centre of executive power, Jacob received the highest number of commissions, with a total of 541 765 FF spent during the period of 1804 to 1813. It was during the Empire period that his reputation was established and his talent fully recognised, as it is recorded that in 1807, the firm employed 350 workmen. His work according to Grandjean in Empire Furniture `is esteemed not only on account of its stylistic homogeneity but because of its consistent high quality'.