These chairs were made after a design by Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-François Leonard Fontaine (1762-1853). Percier and Fontaine, the creators of the Empire style, were the official architects and decorators to Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte, designing and redesigning their Imperial residences during the first decade of the nineteenth century. These architects have been widely acknowledged as the "first interior decorators" - having coined the phrase in their renowned Recueil de décorations interieures comprenant tout ce qui a rapport a l'ameublement, 1801-1812. The Recueil... was widely disseminated and its designs were copied throughout the century. The present chairs were inspired by plate 29 of the Recueil... as their overall design and details are nearly identical. A similar fauteuil with winged sphinx arm supports made by Jacob Frères in 1808 is at the Mobilier National, France (See D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle, p. 132).