A consulat period fauteuil de bureau by Jacob Frères

A Consulat period fauteuil de bureau by Jacob Frères
Solid mahogany, mahogany veneer, Santo Domingo lemon tree, unsigned
Paris circa 1800
Provenance: former collection of Dorothée de Talleyrand-Périgord, Countess Jean de Castellane (1862-1948)

A very fine cabinet chair with a semi-circular backrest. The seatbelt, rounded at the front and straight at the back, is supported by four Etruscan-style legs, flared at the top and carved with palmettes framed by small volutes. The curved backrest, carved from solid mahogany, is shouldered by two rosette-carved brackets. It has an openwork design and is adorned with a rectangular, slightly convex mahogany panel carved with a heart-shaped motif, in the centre of which is carved a palmette surmounted by two rosettes, all shouldered by two openwork scrolls.

This very fine chair, although not stamped, can be attributed with certainty to the Jacob Brothers, by comparison with another identical chair, bearing the double stamp of Georges Jacob and Jacob Desmalter, which was in the former Bertin de Vaux collection at the Château de Villepreux until 2016 [1]. In addition to its innovative and rare shape, this chair is notable for the very fine quality of the Cuban mahogany used for all of its joinery, which contrasts with the panel of lemonwood that adorns the back of the chair.

The rectangular openwork panel of the backrest, carved with a heart motif in which a palmette blooms, is characteristic of the production of Jacob Frères during the Directoire and Consulat periods (1796-1803) and can be found on several suites of chairs from this period bearing their stamp. This is the case for two pairs of chairs with openwork backrest delivered to the Tuileries, one today housed in the Mobilier National and the other in the Musée Marmottant [2]. The same openwork panel is found in a more elaborate version, enriched with ebony and pewter inlays, in a suite of twelve chairs supplied by the Jacobs around 1799 to the Bonapartes for their hotel in the rue de la Victoire, one pair of which is still in the Mobilier National [3].

The shape of the semi-circular seat rail, supported by console legs, named 'à l'étrusque', that flare out at the top and are decorated with sculpted motifs, is also a formula used by the Jacobs in other fauteuils de cabinet. In particular, they adapted the design of our chair to make the one hundred and twenty armchairs delivered in 1805 for senators' session room at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris [4], and a similar Etruscan-style legs can be seen on an armchair delivered in 1814 for the Emperor's grand cabinet in the Tuileries [5].

Last but not least, a detail, such as the hollowing out of the inside of the belt, as it was done on our armchair, is a common practice of the workmen trained in Georges Jacob's workshop, intended to reduce the weight of the chairs.

The provenance:

This desk armchair bears a round label on the inside of the belt with a blue background, inscribed: ‘Property of Countess Jean de Castellane’ (Propriété de la comtesse Jean de Castellane).
Dorothée de Talleyrand-Périgord (1862-1948), granddaughter of the Duchess of Dino (after whom she was named) and daughter of Napoléon Louis de Talleyrand, Duc de Sagan (1811-1898) and Pauline de Castellane (1823-1895), was born at the Château de Valençay in 1862 and spent part of her youth in Prussia on the lands that formed the Duchy of Sagan. First widowed by the Prince of Furstenberg (†1896), she married her cousin Jean de Castellane in Paris in 1898. Intelligent and witty, between the wars she hosted a salon in her private mansion, Place des Saussaies in Paris. Known as ‘la Gräfin Jean’, she was one of Marcel Proust's role models for the young Princess of Guermantes, a character in La Recherche, who was born a duchess in Bavaria and spoke with a German accent. Dorothée de Talleyrand published the memories of her grandmother, the Duchess of Dino, with Calmann Levy in 1908. She died in Paris in 1948.



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[1] Fauteuil de bureau signed twice G.IACOB and Jacob Desmalter rue Meslée, Collections of château de Villepreux, Olivier Lasseron, Drouot le 8 november 2016, lot n°95
[2] A pair of chairs signed Jacob Frères rue Meslée, housed in the French Mobilier National, inv. GMT-1528-00, and a pair of chairs signed Jacob Frères rue Meslée, coming from the Tuileries palace, today housed in musée Marmottant : M.L.M.732 inv. 722.
[3] A pair of mahogany chairs signed Jacob Frères rue Meslée, delivered for the hôtel Bonaparte rue de la Victoire (Bonaparte Town house in rue de la Victoire), GMT 3668/1 et GMT 3668/2
[4] Sotheby’s Paris, 29 avril 2020, Take a seat, lot 13
[5] Delivered on February 18 1814 for the Emperor Napoleon at the Tuileries by the upholsterer Flamant. Today housed in the chateau de Malmaison. Inv. M.M.40.47.213