Lot Essay
These finely-sculpted fauteuils supported by curule-form bases, reflect the 'antique' influence of the excavations at Pompeii and Herculeneum, as well as Napoleon's Egyptian campaigns of 1798 as popularized by Baron Vivant-Denon in his Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte published in 1802. This new vocabulary of ornament was swiftly adopted by ornemanistes such as Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, architects and designers to Napoleon I. A drawing for a very similar chair by Charles Percier (reproduced here), which was intended as a model for Georges Jacob, is reproduced in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siècle 1795-1889, Paris, 1989, p. 283 and 331.
A set of four chairs of the same model but in mahogany was sold from the Segoura Collection, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2006, lot 204. ($70,000 excluding premium)
A set of four chairs of the same model but in mahogany was sold from the Segoura Collection, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2006, lot 204. ($70,000 excluding premium)