A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS
A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS
A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS
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A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS
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A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS

BY GEORGES JACOB, CIRCA 1785

Details
A PAIR OF ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS
BY GEORGES JACOB, CIRCA 1785
E‌ach with slightly curved rectangular padded back with a pearl-chanelled border and decorated with a stiffleaf motif on fluted uprights, the arms terminating in scrolling acanthus leaves on spreading stop-fluted and acanthus-wrapped supports on fluted bases, the shaped seatrail decorated with pearl and foliate motifs on tapering stop-fluted legs with acanthus collars headed by rosettes, on toupie feet, the padded back and seat cushion upholstered in olive green velvet, one fauteuil with remnants of Louis XVI garde-meuble label 'faut.../ salo', two labels printed 'PALAIS IMPERIAL DES TUILERIES / G. M. / 2e SALON', one of which is inscribed '6 FAUTEUILS BOIS DORE / 6 FAUTEUILS ACAJOU / 12 CHAISES' ; stamped: 'PLS DES TUILERIES'; with the Restauration brand with three fleurs-de-lys within an oval; the other fauteuil stencilled 16783 by the Garde-Meuble royal under the Restauration period, with traces of a label inscribed '…Fauteuils et Salon..', refreshments to the gilding
3‌6 in. (93 cm.) high; 27 in. (69 cm.) wide; 25 in. (63 cm.) deep
Provenance
Possibly Charles-Philippe de France (1757-1836), comte d'Artois.
‌General Géraud-Christophe-Michel Duroc (1772-1813), Grand Maréchal du Palais de S.M. l’Empereur Napoléon 1er and Duke of Frioul, inventoried in 1807 in his 'second salon' in the Tuileries Palace.
‌Collection of Hector Lefuel (1810-1880), Paris and thence by descent.
Special notice
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

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Charlotte Young
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Lot Essay


Executed by the celebrated menuisier Georges Jacob circa 1785, these finely carved fauteuils à la reine were likely to have been supplied to a member of the French Royal family, possibly Louis XVI’s brother Charles-Philippe, comte d’Artois (1757-1836). In the early 19th century, they were placed in the Palais des Tuileries in the second salon of the apartments of général Géraud-Christophe-Michel Duroc (1772-1813), Grand Maréchal du Palais de S.M. l’Empereur Napoléon where they were inventoried in 1807:

Six Fauteuils en bois sculpté et doré accotoir à balustre dossier carré, garni en plein avec crin à l’anglaise, le fond à place forme à carreaux de plume couvert en gourgouran rayé bleu bordé et à clous d’une […] en soie et corde à pied tressé – Etoffe 3,50 chaque - (Archives Nationales AJ/19/140)

The stencilled number of the royal Garde-Meuble ‘16783’ visible on one of the seat rails corresponds to an entry of the journal du Garde-Meuble when the fauteuils returned from the Tuileries to the Royal Wardrobe in 1822:

‘rentrée du 20 mai 1822, du palais des Tuileries / trois fauteuils bois sculpté et doré, couverts en gourgouran bleu avec crête en soie blanche à 185f / 555 // renvoi à 3557 (inventaire du magasin de 1825)’

They were then sold by the French Domaine under the Restauration period in 1826 (A.N., AJ 19 614) and later in the 19th century reappeared in the collection of Hector Lefuel (1810-1880), the famous architect, scholar and author of the monographs on Georges Jacob and Jacob-Desmalter.

GENERAL GERAUD-CHRISTOPHE-MICHEL DUROC, DUC DE FRIOUL
The son of Claude de Michel chevalier du Roc, who was a cavalry officer, Duroc attended the Châlons artillery school and emigrated during the Revolution in 1792. Having a change of heart, he returned to France in 1793, entered the Metz School, and was drafted to the Italian artillery. In 1796 Napoleon took Duroc as his aide and made him a major in Egypt, a colonel in Syria, and, after the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), senior aide-de-camp. All contemporaries praised this reserved, unambitious man who, as his best friend, so often tempered Napoleon’s impulses.
From 1804 he was appointed Grand Maréchal (lord high steward of the empire) and kept good order in the Imperial residences. It is under these circumstances that he was given his own appartments in the Palais des Tuileries which were furnished by the Imperial Garde-Meuble. For this apartment, furnished with newly designed Empire furniture but also Ancien Régime pieces including some items from the comte de Provence's appartments in the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris where the comte had lived exclusively between October 1789 and June 1791. This included a clock mentioned in the April 1793 inventory of the comte de Provence's furniture in the Palais du Luxembourg which was also later listed in the 1807 inventory of the Palais des Tuileries in the Grand Maréchal's bedroom, sold at Christie's, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 226.
In addition to his role as Grand Maréchal, Duroc was often on diplomatic missions, and it was he who signed the treaties of Fontainebleau and Bayonne (1807–08) determining the French intervention in Spain. He was also general of division (1803), led a division at the Battle of Austerlitz, and was took part in all the campaigns. He was usually consulted by Napoleon on questions of promotion and became the best channel by which Napoleon’s lieutenants could approach him.
On his journey back from Russia in 1812, the emperor chose Armand de Caulaincourt as his immediate companion; Duroc followed in another sledge. Back in France, Duroc was made a senator in 1813. He was heavily involved in the organisation of the new French army and was present at the battles of Lutzen (umlaut!) and Bautzen (1813). In the outposts in Silesia he came, by chance, under artillery fire and was mortally wounded. Napoleon deeply lamented his death.

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