A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY FAUTEUIL DE BUREAU

SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Details

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY FAUTEUIL DE BUREAU
SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY
The outswept back decorated with a youth carrying a beehive within a carouche surrounded by fruiting laurel and flanked by the downswept arms with conforming foliate scrolls, above the seat covered in close-nailed red leather and the panelled apron with a band of paterae, on turned tapering legs headed by an anthemion clasp and terminating in paw feet

Lot Essay

This fauteuil de bureau is based on the famous chair supplied by Jacob-Desmalter et Cie and with mounts by Thomire, circa 1805 to Jerôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, and brother of Napoleon. This passed into the collection of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte before being sold from the collection of Comte Philippe de La Rochefoucauld, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 19 May 1951, lot 160. The form is based on antique Roman prototypes for throne chairs as popularized through the designs of Percier and Fontaine in their Récueil de Décoration Interieurs (1812), where similar chairs are illustrated, plate 39. Other chairs of this model were sold Christie's, London, 18 June 1987, lot 318, and New York, 25 January 1992, lot 289.

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