Lot Essay
Francois-Honoré-Georges Jacob (1770-1841) employed this stamp between 1813-1825
Georges-Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter (1799-1870) employed this stamp between 1825-30
The table's circular breccia marble top is inlaid with an antique polychromed mosaic, displaying a gorgon mask, that was discovered at Ostia near Rome in the 1790s. The winged and snake-haired mask displayed against a white ground is banded by a black ribbon-border and corresponds to a pavement mosaic from Pompeii (F.P. Maulucci, National Archaelogical Museum of Naples, Naples, 1993, p. 61). The band, with its berribboned myrtle wreathing Medusa's mask, serves as a triumphal shield or targe, emblematic of Athena Minerva, goddess of wisdom. The bronze frame, no doubt intended for a library apartment, is conceived as an altar derived from Roman candelabrum, and its drum is ringed by gilt palmette bas-reliefs, which alternate with crouched and spread-winged Isis figures. The latter figures, inspired by those banding an Egyptian mummy-case in the Institute in Bologna, also correspond to bas-reliefs applied to armchairs that were designed in the French 'antique' manner around 1800 for the Duchess Street mansion museum of the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1842), a friend of Charles Percier (T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl. XLVI and Egyptomania, Ottawa, 1994, pp. 186-194). The Hope bas-reliefs may have been executed by Alexis Decaix, the London-based French 'bronzist' (see G. Jackson-Stopps, 'The Treasure Houses of Britain', Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1985, no.525). The stem of entwined Minerva serpents derives from the type of bronze candelabra discovered in excavations at Herculaneum, while the addorsed sphynx, guardians of knowledge, and recumbent within their hollow-sided altar plinth, probably derive from the Vatican Museum marble candelabrum, illustrated in G.B. Piranesi, Le Antichita Romane, 1756, vol. II, pl. XXV. Its composite form also recalls candelabra antico, such as those illustrated in Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi, tripodi, lucerne et ornamenti antichi, 1778.
Its design corresponds to the Empire style established by Charles Percier, architect to Emperor Napoléon I, and relates to items such as the sphinx-supported table illustrated in his Receuil de Decorations Interieures, 1801. This antique Egyptian style was enormously encouraged by Napoléon, who was accompanied on his Egyptian campaign by the scholar and archaeologist Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (d. 1825), later Director of the Musée Napoleon (The Louvre) and author of Voyage dans La Basse et La Haute Egypte, Paris, 1802 and Description de L'Egypte, 1809-22
A gueridon-table, executed by Jacob-Desmalter after a design by Charles Percier, is now displayed in the Grand Trianon (illustrated in H. Lefuel, F.-H.-G. Jacob-Desmalter, Paris, 1926, pl.XXII). It too incorporates a mosaic marble top, worked by the Schianta brothers, and is supported on a bronze columnette frame with chimerical winged-lions which may have been executed by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (d.1843). Amongst other Egyptian-influenced furniture incorporating coiled serpents or cobras is a chair designed by Jean-Demosthène Dugourc (d.1825), who was appointed designer to the menus-plaisirs in 1814 (illustrated in M. Deschamps, Empire, London, 1994, p.29)
Georges-Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter (1799-1870) employed this stamp between 1825-30
The table's circular breccia marble top is inlaid with an antique polychromed mosaic, displaying a gorgon mask, that was discovered at Ostia near Rome in the 1790s. The winged and snake-haired mask displayed against a white ground is banded by a black ribbon-border and corresponds to a pavement mosaic from Pompeii (F.P. Maulucci, National Archaelogical Museum of Naples, Naples, 1993, p. 61). The band, with its berribboned myrtle wreathing Medusa's mask, serves as a triumphal shield or targe, emblematic of Athena Minerva, goddess of wisdom. The bronze frame, no doubt intended for a library apartment, is conceived as an altar derived from Roman candelabrum, and its drum is ringed by gilt palmette bas-reliefs, which alternate with crouched and spread-winged Isis figures. The latter figures, inspired by those banding an Egyptian mummy-case in the Institute in Bologna, also correspond to bas-reliefs applied to armchairs that were designed in the French 'antique' manner around 1800 for the Duchess Street mansion museum of the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1842), a friend of Charles Percier (T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl. XLVI and Egyptomania, Ottawa, 1994, pp. 186-194). The Hope bas-reliefs may have been executed by Alexis Decaix, the London-based French 'bronzist' (see G. Jackson-Stopps, 'The Treasure Houses of Britain', Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1985, no.525). The stem of entwined Minerva serpents derives from the type of bronze candelabra discovered in excavations at Herculaneum, while the addorsed sphynx, guardians of knowledge, and recumbent within their hollow-sided altar plinth, probably derive from the Vatican Museum marble candelabrum, illustrated in G.B. Piranesi, Le Antichita Romane, 1756, vol. II, pl. XXV. Its composite form also recalls candelabra antico, such as those illustrated in Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi, tripodi, lucerne et ornamenti antichi, 1778.
Its design corresponds to the Empire style established by Charles Percier, architect to Emperor Napoléon I, and relates to items such as the sphinx-supported table illustrated in his Receuil de Decorations Interieures, 1801. This antique Egyptian style was enormously encouraged by Napoléon, who was accompanied on his Egyptian campaign by the scholar and archaeologist Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (d. 1825), later Director of the Musée Napoleon (The Louvre) and author of Voyage dans La Basse et La Haute Egypte, Paris, 1802 and Description de L'Egypte, 1809-22
A gueridon-table, executed by Jacob-Desmalter after a design by Charles Percier, is now displayed in the Grand Trianon (illustrated in H. Lefuel, F.-H.-G. Jacob-Desmalter, Paris, 1926, pl.XXII). It too incorporates a mosaic marble top, worked by the Schianta brothers, and is supported on a bronze columnette frame with chimerical winged-lions which may have been executed by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (d.1843). Amongst other Egyptian-influenced furniture incorporating coiled serpents or cobras is a chair designed by Jean-Demosthène Dugourc (d.1825), who was appointed designer to the menus-plaisirs in 1814 (illustrated in M. Deschamps, Empire, London, 1994, p.29)