Offered by Gallery de Potter d'Indoye
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18th-century and Empire French furniture, works of art and pictures
In mahogany and mahogany veneer, sheathed uprights connected by two shelves, rich and very beautiful ornamentation in chiseled and gilded bronze, openwork frieze with motifs of mascarons, swans, cornucopias and palm leaves, sea green marble top.
We find the same bronzes on a chest of drawers and a secretary stamped Jacob D / .R. Meslée, sold at Sotheby’s Paris on October 15, 2003, lot 25 and lot 106, from the collection of Madame Barbara Piasecka Johnson, the Jacob D.R. Mesleée stamp was used by Georges II and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob between 1803 and 1813,
François-Honoré-Georges Jacob Desmalter (1770-1841)
Napoleon's favorite cabinetmaker, Jacob-Desmalter came from a dynasty of major cabinetmakers. Son of the famous carpenter in seats Georges Jacob, he ran the family workshop from 1796 with his brother Georges: the workshop became known under the name of Jacob Frères and remained active in rue Meslay or Meslée until 1825. Jacob-Desmalter must have observed his father working on exceptional furniture such as the chairs intended for Marie Antoinette's dairy in Rambouillet. One of Jacob-Desmalter's first orders was the decoration and furnishing of the private mansion of General Bonaparte and his wife Joséphine, rue Chantereine. The pieces that have come down to us illustrate the symbolic and patriotic character omnipresent during the Directoire period and announcing the Empire style. Jacob-Desmalter then worked for the Récamiers, a family of influential bankers. During the same period, Jacob-Desmalter carried out the decoration and furnishing of the Château de Malmaison, Joséphine's country house on the plans of Percier and Fontaine. The Jacob Frères workshop also supplied Bonaparte's apartments at the Tuileries with furniture.
Some pieces were presented at the second and third Exhibitions of Products of French Industry, which took place in 1801 and 1802 in the courtyard of the Louvre. Jacob-Desmalter received a gold medal at the 1802 exhibition.
After the death of Georges in 1803, the activity of the workshop continued for nine years under the tutelage of the father. However, from that year until 1813, Jacob-Desmalter used his own stamp: JACOB.D./R. MESLEE.
It was during the Empire that Jacob-Desmalter's reputation was established and his talent fully recognized. In 1807, the workshop employed 350 artisans. In 1809, Jacob-Desmalter executed the malachite furniture for the Grand Trianon, consisting of two supporting furniture, two candelabras and a vase supported by three large chimeras, adorned with a head of Hercules and a skin lion. This vase, made from a design by Percier and Fontaine, was executed by Cartelier, already employed by Jacob-Desmalter before for Napoleon's throne at Fontainebleau. Jacob-Desmalter also worked with the best bronzers of his time: Thomire and Delafontaine. According to Grandjean, (op. Cit.), His work "is esteemed not only for the homogeneity of its style, but also for its consistent quality".
