Lot Essay
George Jacob, matre in 1765
The boldly carved frame of this canape and the short spiral-turned legs stylistically fit into the early phase of Neoclassism strongly favored by such designers as Jean-Charles Delafosse, Pierre Contant d'Ivry and Jean-Franois de Neufforge, and patronized by sophisticated clients such as Ange Laurent de Lalive de Jully and the duc d'Aumont as well as Madame du Barry. A drawing of a canap for the htel de Mlusine, dated 1766 and executed by Henry Pitre, assistant Chief Architect to the duc d'Orlans, shows a canap of similar proportions with elaborately carved frame and similar legs headed by acanthus leaves (illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Sige au XVIIIe Sicle en France, Paris, 1987, p. 198). A stately bed with richly carved frame and canopy (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) exhibits very similar trailing foliage on the rails and short spiral-carved legs (illustrated in P. Verlet, The Eighteenth Century in France, Fribourg, 1967, pp. 142-43, fig. 99).
A similar canap with the same distinctive scrolled arm and short feet appear in a gouache by Jean-Baptiste Mallet (1759-1835), now in the Muse Marmotan, Paris (M. Jarry, Le Sige Franais, Fribourg, 1973, p. 285, pl. 42).
In its overall form, however, this canap is perhaps most closely related to that supplied by Louis-Charles Carpentier for the Salon of the Prince de Conds Petits Appartements at the Palais Bourbon in 1771-2, which was used by his daughter Louise-Adelade de Bourbon Cond (1757-1824). Enriched with gorges peintes en miniature, the canap is now in the Louvre and is illustrated in B.G.B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, Vol.2, pp.122-5. no.39.
The boldly carved frame of this canape and the short spiral-turned legs stylistically fit into the early phase of Neoclassism strongly favored by such designers as Jean-Charles Delafosse, Pierre Contant d'Ivry and Jean-Franois de Neufforge, and patronized by sophisticated clients such as Ange Laurent de Lalive de Jully and the duc d'Aumont as well as Madame du Barry. A drawing of a canap for the htel de Mlusine, dated 1766 and executed by Henry Pitre, assistant Chief Architect to the duc d'Orlans, shows a canap of similar proportions with elaborately carved frame and similar legs headed by acanthus leaves (illustrated in B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Sige au XVIIIe Sicle en France, Paris, 1987, p. 198). A stately bed with richly carved frame and canopy (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) exhibits very similar trailing foliage on the rails and short spiral-carved legs (illustrated in P. Verlet, The Eighteenth Century in France, Fribourg, 1967, pp. 142-43, fig. 99).
A similar canap with the same distinctive scrolled arm and short feet appear in a gouache by Jean-Baptiste Mallet (1759-1835), now in the Muse Marmotan, Paris (M. Jarry, Le Sige Franais, Fribourg, 1973, p. 285, pl. 42).
In its overall form, however, this canap is perhaps most closely related to that supplied by Louis-Charles Carpentier for the Salon of the Prince de Conds Petits Appartements at the Palais Bourbon in 1771-2, which was used by his daughter Louise-Adelade de Bourbon Cond (1757-1824). Enriched with gorges peintes en miniature, the canap is now in the Louvre and is illustrated in B.G.B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, Vol.2, pp.122-5. no.39.