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Lot Essay
The chairs, conceived as triumphal thrones, have Grecian-scrolled backs swagged by palm-flowered drapery and bordered by wreaths of laurel, myrtle and palms. The latter are ribbon-tied to the back-uprights, that are formed as Roman 'dophin' trumpets with serpent-headed tails; while the voluted and palm-wrapped arms are supported on 'gladius' leopard-headed swords, whose palm-flowered scabbards form the chair legs.
These 'Officer' chairs' Roman trophy ornament relates to the trompe l'oeil wall-decoration of 'armes anciennes' introduced by Charles Percier (d.1838) in the tent-like Salle du conseil that he created for Napoleon at Malmaison in 1800 (C. Percier and P. Fontaine. Recueil de dcorations intrieures, 1801). Their arm-rests, with addorsed leopard heads, relate to those on a drapery-swagged stool designed around 1800 by the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1831) for his Duchess Street mansion/museum and illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807 (pl. XII). The form of their ribbon-tied wreaths also relate to that featured on the pedestal designed for Hope's statue of Aurora and Cephalus (pl. XIV). In his introduction to Household Furniture Hope praised the work of Percier 'an artist of my acquaintance...who, having professionally devoted the first portion of his career to the study of the antique chef-d'oeuvres in Italy, now devotes the latter portion of his life to the superintendance of modern objects of elegance and decoration in France; and who, uniting in himself all the different talents of the antiquarian, the draughtsman, the modeller, and the engraver, has ... been enabled to invent and to design the most beautiful articles of furniture, of cabinet-work, and of plate...'. In reference to the manufacture of his furnishings in London, Hope stated that 'Throughout this vast metropolis, teeming as it does with artificers and tradesmen of every description, I have, after the most laborious search, only been able to find two men [one born in France and the other in the Low Countries], whose industry and talent I could in some measure confide the execution of the most complicated and more enriched portion of my designs'. The talented craftsman from the Low Countries was the carver Peter Bogaert(s) established in Tottenham Court Road in 1792 before moving to Air Street, Piccadilly in 1809, where he worked in association with Paul Storr. He was employed by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and in 1807 supplied the pair of nine foot candelabra for his throne room at Carlton House (see The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 83). In view of their exceptional quality, these chairs may be the work of Peter Bogaerts.
These 'Officer' chairs' Roman trophy ornament relates to the trompe l'oeil wall-decoration of 'armes anciennes' introduced by Charles Percier (d.1838) in the tent-like Salle du conseil that he created for Napoleon at Malmaison in 1800 (C. Percier and P. Fontaine. Recueil de dcorations intrieures, 1801). Their arm-rests, with addorsed leopard heads, relate to those on a drapery-swagged stool designed around 1800 by the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1831) for his Duchess Street mansion/museum and illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807 (pl. XII). The form of their ribbon-tied wreaths also relate to that featured on the pedestal designed for Hope's statue of Aurora and Cephalus (pl. XIV). In his introduction to Household Furniture Hope praised the work of Percier 'an artist of my acquaintance...who, having professionally devoted the first portion of his career to the study of the antique chef-d'oeuvres in Italy, now devotes the latter portion of his life to the superintendance of modern objects of elegance and decoration in France; and who, uniting in himself all the different talents of the antiquarian, the draughtsman, the modeller, and the engraver, has ... been enabled to invent and to design the most beautiful articles of furniture, of cabinet-work, and of plate...'. In reference to the manufacture of his furnishings in London, Hope stated that 'Throughout this vast metropolis, teeming as it does with artificers and tradesmen of every description, I have, after the most laborious search, only been able to find two men [one born in France and the other in the Low Countries], whose industry and talent I could in some measure confide the execution of the most complicated and more enriched portion of my designs'. The talented craftsman from the Low Countries was the carver Peter Bogaert(s) established in Tottenham Court Road in 1792 before moving to Air Street, Piccadilly in 1809, where he worked in association with Paul Storr. He was employed by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV and in 1807 supplied the pair of nine foot candelabra for his throne room at Carlton House (see The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 83). In view of their exceptional quality, these chairs may be the work of Peter Bogaerts.