Turkish style sofa from the Empire period

Large Turkish or billiard table sofa with mahogany veneer and scrolls, armrest supports with busts of winged sphinxes topped with nemes, on a plinth base. Beautiful luxury finishes and refined production: mercury gilded and finely chiselled bronzes (palmettes, rosettes), Egyptian bust in blackened mahogany to simulate antique patinated bronze. It is difficult to date precisely this beautiful and rare Empire period seat. If ancient sphinxes and busts are generally associated with the Consulate period, they remained fashionable throughout the Empire and even during the Restoration. The baseboard with the rounded corners, the armrest windings suggest that our beautiful seat would date more from the 1810s than 1800, at the end of the Empire or at the very beginning of the Restoration, in the absence of an inventory number or stamp that would allow us to date it more precisely.

This type of large comfort sofas were intended for Turkish style cabinets or for a billiard room, at a time when the vision of the Orient and the antique were in fashion. We find this kind of high comfort seating on paintings showing Empress Josephine or Queen Hortense in their Turkish boudoir or living room. Of great magnitude, this kind of seat is very rare and of great refinement.

Unfortunately, our bench seat does not carry a stamp that allows us to attribute it with certainty, but this type of winged busts strongly reminds us of Jacob's style (many seats stamped with winged busts very close to ours), and he also distinguished himself by producing rare and special order seats like our sofa. If this one is not from his workshop, it is undoubtedly the work of a great Parisian cabinet-maker, a good follower of Jacob's, failing to prove that he comes from this illustrious house.

Excellent condition, old restorations. Varnished with an old stamp cleaned and repolished by our cabinetmaker. Preserved spring trim. Covered for new with a smooth taupe gray velvet. A good alliance between the modern and the old and enhanced with braids and black trimmings to structure the volumes. We have added 4 small cushions to the original 3 large ones to reinforce this impression of oriental comfort.

NB: we have had several Empire and Return from Egypt seats restored with the same finishes so that we can create sets on demand. Do not hesitate to contact us for any project of decoration with a larger set of seats.

Length : 200cm
Depth: 90cm
Seat height: 38cm
Backrest height: 97cm