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Three superb large size and very rare Directoire carved mahogany chairs comprising a pair of fauteuils and a bergère in the Egyptian taste attributed to Henri Jacob, each with a rectangular padded back, arm rests and seat upholstered in a trellis-pattern cream silk, the rectangular channelled back and bowed seat rails finely carved with rosette filled guilloche banding, the arm rests headed by spheres above exquisite caryatid Egyptian female heads with braided hair and headdresses above tapering supports carved with anthemion continuing down tapering legs, headed by a rosette on stepped square feet
Paris, date circa 1795-1800
The pair of fauteuils: height 97 cm, width 61.5 cm, depth 57 cm; the bergère: height 98 cm, width 69 cm, depth 67 cm.
The carving of these three chairs is of the very finest quality, which in combination with the very rare design of the Egyptian caryatid arm supports and their unusually large size singles out their importance. The attribution to Henri Jacob (1753-1824) rests upon such characteristics as well as comparisons with other of his chairs, all of which combine elegance of line, lightness of form and an emphasis on quality carving. In particular they can be compared with a pair of late eighteenth century carved mahogany “retour d’Egypte†fauteuils (sold in Paris 28th Nov1972), one of which is illustrated in Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècleâ€, 1998, p. 439. As here the pair was carved from solid mahogany but instead of Egyptian female supports featured winged sphinxes.
Henri Jacob, whose work was of excellent quality was a first cousin of the highly celebrated eighteenth century menuisier Georges Jacob (1739-1814) and like him was born at Cheny, a small Burgundy village north of Auxerre. Though the two came from humble origins they possessed a rare talent and though Georges was to gain far greater acclaim both enjoyed royal patronage and a fine repute. Having been received as a Paris maître in September 1779 Henri Jacob worked from rue de Bourbon-Villeneuve, now known as rue d’Aboukir. In 1799 he was installed in an atelier at rue de l’Echiquier and owned a shop at the corner of rue Neuve-Saint-Etienne and boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, where he traded in “de beau genre et de bon goût, en bois d’acajou de choix†On offer were a selection of his finely carved chairs and settees as well as other pieces including beds, bonheurs-du-jour, bureaux, commodes, secrétaires, consoles and various tables. Today Henri Jacob’s oeuvre is represented in countless museums. One can see his work in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which owns two Louis XVI fauteuils by him; the Musée de Carnavalet houses a pair of small Louis XVI chairs, the Musée du Louvre a pair of Louis XVI carved mahogany seats, while the Musée de Nissim-de-Camondo has four of his Louis XVI sculptured chairs. In addition the Musée de Jacquemart-André houses a small Louis XVI marquise and the Musée de Château de Fontainebleau a late Louis XVI lit à la Polonaise. The Minneapolis Institute of Art is home to a pair of Louis XVI giltwood chairs, while at least one of his giltwood chairs from the same period made for the Russian court can be found at Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg.
Henri Jacob occasionally collaborated with the menuisier Jean-Baptiste Demay (1759-1848); his chairs are also compared with those stamped Sené but more particularly those by Georges Jacob, who was probably the first Parisian craftsman to use solid polished mahogany for chair making, resulting in a more widespread vogue circa 1785. Henri also copied other of his cousin’s designs such as the adoption of a square enclosing a rosette at the top of the leg. Georges’ sons, Georges II (1768-1803) and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob (1770-1841) under the banner of Jacob Frères were keen to distinguish themselves from Henri and in April 1800 advertised the fact that they should not be confused with H Jacob at rue de l’Echiquier. Though the name of Jacob certainly assisted Henri’s career he certainly gained repute in his own right. In 1785 he received his first commission from the French court for a set of classical gilded chairs; he made chairs for Marie-Antoinette and received other important orders as suggested by the appearance of two marquises from the ancient collection of Mme de Polès, sold Paris June 1927 as well as a very important suite of 19 chairs (originally comprising 30) ornamented with beads and acanthus and upholstered with Beauvais tapestries (sold Monte Carlo 1976).
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