Lot Essay
Georges Jacob, maître in 1765.
With their delicate japanned Etruscan scenes inset in the backs, these elegant curved canapés are closely related to a set of similarly-decorated fauteuils, also by Jacob, which were supplied to the Paris residence of François-Thomas Fitz Maurice, Earl of Kerry around 1790 (sold Christie's Monaco, 15 June 1997, lot 155). Initially based in the hôtel de Charost (now the British Embassy), Lord Kerry moved into his hôtel in the rue d'Artois in March 1790. At this time he made numerous purchases from the celebrated marchand-mercier Daguerre Daguerre, who almost certainly supplied the above-mentioned fauteuils but also a canape and various other items decorated in the same fashion. However, Lord Kerry decided to leave Paris soon after and gave up the lease of the hôtel in 1792, when an inventory was drawn up of the contents. The seat-furniture by Jacob is listed as 'un canapé en bois d'acajou garni en maroquin avec un matelas en crin, deux carreaux et deux coussins ..... quatre fauteuils dans le meme genre dont deux avec un frise au dessus .....'.
With their delicate japanned Etruscan scenes inset in the backs, these elegant curved canapés are closely related to a set of similarly-decorated fauteuils, also by Jacob, which were supplied to the Paris residence of François-Thomas Fitz Maurice, Earl of Kerry around 1790 (sold Christie's Monaco, 15 June 1997, lot 155). Initially based in the hôtel de Charost (now the British Embassy), Lord Kerry moved into his hôtel in the rue d'Artois in March 1790. At this time he made numerous purchases from the celebrated marchand-mercier Daguerre Daguerre, who almost certainly supplied the above-mentioned fauteuils but also a canape and various other items decorated in the same fashion. However, Lord Kerry decided to leave Paris soon after and gave up the lease of the hôtel in 1792, when an inventory was drawn up of the contents. The seat-furniture by Jacob is listed as 'un canapé en bois d'acajou garni en maroquin avec un matelas en crin, deux carreaux et deux coussins ..... quatre fauteuils dans le meme genre dont deux avec un frise au dessus .....'.