EARLY 19TH CENTURY

With reference to the French ébéniste Georges Jacob, who popularised the extensive use of mahogany, this type of elegant brass-mounted mahogany furniture was often described as 'Jacob Style' (stil' zhakob) and enjoyed wide success in Russia. The design for this pair of bedside cabinets, however, is influenced by another celebrated cabinet-maker, the German David Roentgen, who as a ebéniste mecanicien of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, dazzled not only the courts of Western Europe but also Catherine the Great as well as most Russian ébénistes of the late 18th and early 19th century, including Heinrich Gambs and Christian Meyer.