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A very rare and large Empire carved gilt wood fauteuil d’apparat attributed to Pierre-Benoît Marcion, the rectangular padded back and seat covered in blue and gold silk, the panelled toprail carved with paterae and anthemion motifs, the straight turned arms with paterae terminals on shaped flat fronted supports and similar stop-fluted legs on turned feet
Paris, circa 1810
Height 104 cm, width 70 cm, depth 57 cm.
Provenance: Most probably made for one of Napoleon’s Imperial Palaces.
Literature: Léon de Groër, “Les Arts Décoratifs de 1790-1850”, 1985, p. 146, pl. 273, illustrating a carved gilt canapé by Marcion of 1805-6 in the Palais Royal de Bruxelles, with similar panelled toprail. “Le Grand Livres des Meubles” with preface by Maurice Rheims, p. 109, illustrating another gilded fauteuil d’apparat by Marcion at Château de Fontainebleau. Laure Murat, “Grande Demeures de France”, p. 30, illustrating a salon at Le Fayel, Picardie with a similarly styled gilded canapé and two matching fauteuils.
Pierre-Benoît Marcion (1769-1840) was an exceptionally important Empire ébéniste, whose work for the Emperor Napoleon was second only to Jacob. Among the many Imperial commissions Marcion supplied furniture for the Grand and Petit Trianon at Versailles, the Palais de Saint-Cloud, de Compiègne, Fontainebleau, L’Elysée, Rambouillet, the Palais des Tuileries, Château de Laeken and Monte Cavallo. Some of his work can still be found in its original situ. Other items of furniture by him are in a number of notable private collections as well as the Musée de Luxembourg, the Mobilier National and the Musée National du Chateaux de Pau and de Malmaison.
Marcion who was born in Paris established a workshop and shop in 1798 at rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, which he called ‘Aux Egyptiens’. There he advertised himself as supplying ‘a choice of furniture, in mahogany, richly ornamented with bronzes after the beautiful forms of the ancient Etruscans, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans’. In his heyday during the Empire, he also supplied many painted pieces and others, as here, richly gilded all over. In 1801 Marcion moved to rue Helvetius and then from 1811-16 he was based at rue de Choiseul. Marcion’s career was relatively short, since when Napoleon was finally overthrown in 1815 many outstanding debts were still owed to him. He finally gave up his business in 1817 when he retired to Château-Thierry; he died 23 years later in Paris.
A number of Marcion’s Empire chairs share similar characteristics with the present piece, notably the straight turned arms, the carved ornamental panelled toprail and the distinct shaped flat fronted supports and legs. At times he and Jacob-Desmalter worked together, for instance in 1809 they collaborated in the refurbishment of the Grand Trianon at Versailles. This close relationship would explain why their work shared so many similarities, such as the carved shaped flat-fronted supports that also feature on a fauteuil by Jacob-Desmalter in the Palais Royal de Bruxelles and similar models made for the Trianon as well as a canapé in the Palais Royal de Bruxelles (illustrated Léon de Groër, ibid. p. 141, pl. 260 and p. 146, pl. 274).
Among Marcion’s many commissions were a series of larger fully gilded fauteuils, known as fauteuils d’apparat. These chairs were reserved for the specific use of Napoleon, his Imperial family and princes. After Napoleon’s downfall, some works of art were removed from his Imperial palaces. Later during the July Revolution of 1848 a number of royal residences were ransacked, such as Louis Philippe’s Château de Neuilly; the mob destroyed certain works, others were sold or dispersed elsewhere. As a result of these social upheavals Imperial and Royal works of art occasionally appear on the present market; included among them are items of furniture such as the present piece as well as those bearing both Marcion’s stamp and the stamp of Château de Fontainebleau and Compiègne.
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