This type of elegant back that runs into the seat-rail was employed as early as 1768 by Jean-Charles Delafosse and adopted again by Percier and Fontaine, the imperial architects, decorators and furniture designers. Pierre de la Mésangère illustrated a large number of variations on this theme in his Collection des Meubles et Objets de Goût published from 1802 to 1835. Several chaise en gondole are illustrated in the watercolour of the Duchesse de Berry's private Drawing Room at the Tuileries, painted by J. F. or A. Garnerey early in the 1820's; P. Thornton, Authentic Decor, The Domestic Interior, London, 1984, pl.296. Cf. a set of four sold in these Rooms, 27 March 1986, lot 44 and a pair with solid splats in the same sale, lot 43.