This fauteuil was originally part of a set of at least three (two others are in an American private collection) which were supplied by Jacob Frères as part of the redecoration of Saint-Cloud carried out for Napoleon in 1801 and 1802. Throughout the 18th century, the royal château of Saint-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris remained in the possession of the Orléans family until the duc d'Orléans sold it in 1784 to Marie-Antoinette for 6 million livres. The Queen transformed the château under the direction of her architect Richard Micqué in 1787 and 1788 and used it as a summer residence even after the Royal Family's departure from Versailles in 1789. After being used by a variety of revolutionary councils, Napoleon decided to renovate the château in 1801 under the auspices of the architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine. The First Consul made his first visit on September 24, 1802 and decreed it his official summer residence. Saint-Cloud was burned during the siege of Paris in 1870 and was finally demolished in 1891 under the Third Republic (see B.G.B. Pallot, "Les Sièges du Château de Saint-Cloud", L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, no. 273, October 1993, pp. 36-37).

The square legs and profusion of mounts relate to the throne chair commissioned by the painter David from Georges Jacob (illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle, 2nd ed., 1989, pl. XVII). The unusual frieze of alternating palmettes also appears on a desk supplied by Jacob Frères after 1796 to Napoleon and which is now in the Grand Trianon (illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon: Meubles et Objets d'Art, 1975, p. 31).