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Lot Essay
With their distinctive addorsed lion monopodia legs and seated sphinx arm-supports, these chairs reflect the 'antique' influence of the excavations at Pompeii and Herculeneum, as well as Napoleon's Egyptian campaign as popularised by Baron Vivant-Denon. Simultaneous excavations at Pompeii and Herculeneum brought the Roman and Etruscan cultures to the fore of European furniture design and this new vocabulary of ornament was swiftly adopted by ornamenistes such as Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, who issued their Recueil des décorations intérieures in 1801. It is interesting to note in this context that the Boas sale catalogue stated that these fauteuils were reputedly commissioned upon Napoleon's return from Egypt for the chât eau de Malmaison.
Several fauteuils with lion monopodia front legs and sphinx arm- supports by Georges Jacob are known, including: a pair illustrated in 'Egyptomania: L'Egypte dans l'art occidental, 1730-1930', Exhibition Catalogue, Louvre, Paris, 1994, p. 281, cat. no. 162); a single fauteuil sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 70 that is comparable to a suite of furniture commissioned by Marie-Antoinette for the chaâteau de Saint-Cloud, reproduced in Le Siège Français, Paris, 1953, p. 239; another fauteuil, sold Etude Millon-Rosent, Paris, 25 October 1980, lot 108 that was attributed to Georges Jacob on the basis of its similarity to another signed by Jacob in the Fabius Collection; and a suite of seat-furniture stamped by Jacob from the Hôtel de Marbeuf, sold from the Collection Banque Commerciale Privée, Briest, Paris, 10 December 1996, lot 35.
Examples with addorsed front and rear legs are as yet unattributable, though parallels may be drawn with a mahogany chaise longue by Bernard Molitor, illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, p. 277, fig. 273, that has adorsed lion's legs and paws executed in the Egyptian manner. In addition to this, two tabourets stamped JACOB D, also with addorsed lion's legs and paws, are illustrated in E. Dumonthier, Bois de Siège, Paris, n.d., cat. no. 68.
Several fauteuils with lion monopodia front legs and sphinx arm- supports by Georges Jacob are known, including: a pair illustrated in 'Egyptomania: L'Egypte dans l'art occidental, 1730-1930', Exhibition Catalogue, Louvre, Paris, 1994, p. 281, cat. no. 162); a single fauteuil sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 70 that is comparable to a suite of furniture commissioned by Marie-Antoinette for the chaâteau de Saint-Cloud, reproduced in Le Siège Français, Paris, 1953, p. 239; another fauteuil, sold Etude Millon-Rosent, Paris, 25 October 1980, lot 108 that was attributed to Georges Jacob on the basis of its similarity to another signed by Jacob in the Fabius Collection; and a suite of seat-furniture stamped by Jacob from the Hôtel de Marbeuf, sold from the Collection Banque Commerciale Privée, Briest, Paris, 10 December 1996, lot 35.
Examples with addorsed front and rear legs are as yet unattributable, though parallels may be drawn with a mahogany chaise longue by Bernard Molitor, illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Fribourg, 1973, p. 277, fig. 273, that has adorsed lion's legs and paws executed in the Egyptian manner. In addition to this, two tabourets stamped JACOB D, also with addorsed lion's legs and paws, are illustrated in E. Dumonthier, Bois de Siège, Paris, n.d., cat. no. 68.