LATE 18TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF GEORGES JACOB,

The celebrated menuisier Georges Jacob (maître in 1765) created a range of chair styles 'à l'anglaise', employing pierced backs and mahogany construction in the manner of Thomas Chippendale so fashionable at the close of the 18th Century. While chair back designs came in numerous varieties, the lyre form was one of the most dominant and is often attributed to Jacob. In 1786 he provided for Monsieur for the billiard room at Versailles three canapés in solid mahogany with triple lyre-form backs (See H. Lefuel, Georges Jacob, Paris, 1923, p. 203). One of a set of six virtually identical chairs is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Les Ébénistes du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 425, pl.A.