This type of elegant back which runs into the seat-rail was employed as early as 1768 by Jean-Charles Delafosse and adopted again by Percier and Fontaine, the Imperial architects, decorators and furniture designers. Pierre de la Mésangère illustrated a large number of variations on this theme in his Collections et Objets de Goût, published from 1802 to 1835. Several chaises en gondole are illustrated in the watercolour of the Duchesse de Berry's private Drawing Room at the Tuileries, painted by J.F. or A. Garnerey early in the 1820s. (P. Thornton, Authentic Decor, The Domestic Interior 1620-1920, London, pl. 296)

See illustration