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Lot Essay
A design for such X-shaped tabourets is included in Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine's Receuil de Décorations Intérieures, which was published in 1801. The distinctive relief decoration with stylised foliage is characteristic of the oeuvre of Georges Jacob (maître in 1765) and also featured, for instance, on a related tabouret stamped Jacob Frères which formed part of a suite supplied to the Palais Royal in Brussels.
The crowned 'H' stamp could be that of Queen Hortense, wife of Prince Louis Napoléon (d.1846), Grand Connètable de l'Empire and daughter of the Empress Josephine. The lover of the comte de Flahaut, Hortense de Beuharnais bought the hôtel in the rue Cerrutti on 2 June 1804 and turned to Jacob-Desmalter for its furnishing, including the suite of seat-furniture sold at Christie's London, 12 December 1996, lots 179-182 (see P. Leperlier, La Reine Hortense, une femme artiste, l"hoôtel de la rue Cerrutti, Paris, 1993, p.90). Crowned King of Holland on 5 June 1806, Bonaparte ruled until 1810 when his brother forced him to abdicate, suspicious that he over-defended Dutch interests. Holland was then united with France until the Prince of Orange became King William I in 1815.
The crowned 'H' stamp could be that of Queen Hortense, wife of Prince Louis Napoléon (d.1846), Grand Connètable de l'Empire and daughter of the Empress Josephine. The lover of the comte de Flahaut, Hortense de Beuharnais bought the hôtel in the rue Cerrutti on 2 June 1804 and turned to Jacob-Desmalter for its furnishing, including the suite of seat-furniture sold at Christie's London, 12 December 1996, lots 179-182 (see P. Leperlier, La Reine Hortense, une femme artiste, l"hoôtel de la rue Cerrutti, Paris, 1993, p.90). Crowned King of Holland on 5 June 1806, Bonaparte ruled until 1810 when his brother forced him to abdicate, suspicious that he over-defended Dutch interests. Holland was then united with France until the Prince of Orange became King William I in 1815.