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Lot Essay
The design for this distinctive Empire day bed with its rich ormolu mounts and marble panels is illustrated on plates XIV-XV in the seminal book of Empire designs Recueil des Decorations Interieures published by the celebrated French architects Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-François-Leonard Fontaine (1762-1853) in 1812.
The masculine line of the design is balanced by the luxurious and elaborate arrangement of ormolu mounts which reflect the strong influence of the Antique, the high quality of these mounts, particularly the ram's heads indicates the possible involvement of the master Pierre-Philippe Thomire. The published design is titled ‘exécuté par Alexandre Regnier’, a carver who collaborated with the royal menuisier Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené on a suite of seat furniture for Marie Antoinette in 1789. Due to the quality of the mounts and the richness of the finished bed it has been attributed to the workshop of the famous dynasty of menuisiers Jacob Freres.
Two other day beds of this model are known; they display minor variations to the illustrated design and differ slightly from the present example and to each other. The first - with galerie Camoin, Paris - illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, 1984, pl. XVII) and the other was sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, London, 11 June 2003, lot 146. The galerie Camoin example has an ormolu border mount to the front rail, which is seen in the original design but not on the other two known examples. The present day bed does not appear to ever have had this feature or have space to accommodate it. Additionally, the galerie Camoin example has a simplified vase-shaped foot mount to both front feet – rather than the more elaborate one seen on the present day bed and the design, which is supported by chimerae. Interestingly the maker’s choice of marbles is the same on all three, indicating that they were probably from the same workshop. A further example with faux marble panels under glass was sold from the impressive Empire collection at Chateau de Grand-Vaux, 22-24 June 1935.
The masculine line of the design is balanced by the luxurious and elaborate arrangement of ormolu mounts which reflect the strong influence of the Antique, the high quality of these mounts, particularly the ram's heads indicates the possible involvement of the master Pierre-Philippe Thomire. The published design is titled ‘exécuté par Alexandre Regnier’, a carver who collaborated with the royal menuisier Jean-Baptiste Claude Sené on a suite of seat furniture for Marie Antoinette in 1789. Due to the quality of the mounts and the richness of the finished bed it has been attributed to the workshop of the famous dynasty of menuisiers Jacob Freres.
Two other day beds of this model are known; they display minor variations to the illustrated design and differ slightly from the present example and to each other. The first - with galerie Camoin, Paris - illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, 1984, pl. XVII) and the other was sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, London, 11 June 2003, lot 146. The galerie Camoin example has an ormolu border mount to the front rail, which is seen in the original design but not on the other two known examples. The present day bed does not appear to ever have had this feature or have space to accommodate it. Additionally, the galerie Camoin example has a simplified vase-shaped foot mount to both front feet – rather than the more elaborate one seen on the present day bed and the design, which is supported by chimerae. Interestingly the maker’s choice of marbles is the same on all three, indicating that they were probably from the same workshop. A further example with faux marble panels under glass was sold from the impressive Empire collection at Chateau de Grand-Vaux, 22-24 June 1935.