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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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An important Directoire carved, gilt and ebonised mahogany and grey veined marble guéridon by Jacob Frères, stamped JACOB • FRERES RUE MESLEE, the moulded circular grey veined marble top above a columnar support ornamented with gilt raised trelliswork centred by rosettes and terminated by a stiff leaf band on a spreading circular base, upon a concave-sided tripartite mahogany plinth with ebony stringing above three foliate headed lion paw feet joined by a shaped and centrally decorated apron Paris, date circa 1800 Height 75 cm, diameter 85 cm. Literature: Denise Ledoux-Lebard, “Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle”, 2000, p. 286, illustrating a very similar guéridon by Georges Jacob of 1790 with a double plateau but as here with similar trellis and stiff leaf decoration to the columnar support and an almost identical tripartite base, which was made for the French writer and author Pierre Augustin Charon de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) for his house at rue Saint-Antoine. More recently in January 1967, it was exhibited at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. This grand guéridon is extremely similar to the one made for Beaumarchais, 1790 by the eminent maître-menuisier Georges Jacob (1739-1814). It was however made by the latter’s two sons Georges II (1768-1803) and François-Honoré-Georges (1770-1841), who when their father retired in 1796 took over his Parisian business at rue Meslee, renaming it Jacob Frères. The brother’s new partnership was only short lived since in 1803 Georges II suddenly died. Subsequently François-Honoré, who assumed the name of Jacob-Desmalter, (Desmalter being one of his father’s properties in Burgundy), went back into business with his father and continued it under the name of Jacob-Desmalter et Cie. The elder partner then retired for a second time in 1813 and in 1825 François-Honoré was succeeded by his own son. The firm continued under family ownership until it was sold in 1847. Distinguished by their finesse and reference to the antique, Jacob Frères proved as successful as their father. Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine were among their many patrons, whilst examples of the firm’s work can be found in many museums, especially those in Paris such as the Musée des Art Décoratifs, the Palais de l’Elysée, Marmottan, Mobilier National and Louvre as well as the Châteaux de Compiègne, Fontainebleau, Malmaison and the Trianon Versailles. Their pieces were, as here, often distinguished by references to antiquity, were bold and solid in design and frequently supported on lion paw feet. For instance similar feet appear on a bureau en arc de triomphe commissioned by Joséphine Bonaparte at the time of her marriage in 1796 (now in the Musée National du Château de Versailles; illustrated ibid, p. 276). The firm also created a similarly shaped guéridon with additional supporting scrolls around the main columnar support for the Hôtel de la rue Chantereine, after a design by Percier and Fontaine (Musée National du Château de Malmaison; illustrated ibid, p. 298). Jacob Frères pieces were generally made in mahogany, were sometimes painted, ebonised and gilded and often inlaid with exotic woods. A report of 1803 by Chaptal, Ministre de l’Intérieur detailed the variety at their workshop noting “Un menuisier en bâtiment…deux menuisiers en meubles, un atelier de sculpture d’ébénisterie d’incrustations, de fondeurs mouleurs, de ciselures, de tapissiers, de serruriers mécaniciens...” The report also listed the woods used including indigenous species such as apple, acacia, maple, beech and oak while imported woods included mahogany, ebony, purplewood and satinwood. |