A pair of armchairs in the Etruscan style, signed G.IACOB, Paris by 1790

GEORGES JACOB (1739-1815)
A pair of armchairs in the Etruscan style, signed G.IACOB,
Georges Jacob, master in 1765
Paris by 1790


Provenance : collection Jean Nicolaÿ (1890-1959), then by descent
Literature : Jean Nicolaÿ, "L'art et la manière des maîtres ébénistes au XVIIIe siècle", Guy Le Prat 1959 and Éditions Pygmalion 1976, reproduced fig. AA et fig. AA' page 242

Georges Jacob, the greatest French seat maker in the last third of the 18th century, whose workshop had a European influence, supplier to the royal courts and the high society, is famous not only for the very high quality of execution of his works, but also for the creativity and diversity of forms of the chairs designed in his workshop.

He was one of the forerunners of the Etruscan taste, under the combined influence of Hubert Robert, who designed the mahogany furniture for the Laiterie de Rambouillet delivered in 1787, and of Jacques Louis David who ordered seats of Grecian style for his workshop; seats that he represented in Les licteurs rapportent à Brutus les corps de ses fils, exhibited at the 1789 Salon.

The design of our pair of armchairs was probably given by the agency of the young architects Percier and Fontaine in the 1790s, as evidenced by a drawing attributed to them, published by Mrs Ledoux Lebart, representing five seats in the Etruscan taste, including an armchair, with scrolled backrest, same pillared armrests, and saber legs.