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Lot Essay
Georges Jacob (1739-1814), maître in 1765.
This elegant méridienne by Georges Jacob, designed à l'antique at the end of the reign of Louis XVI, was part of the collection of the celebrated collector and philanthropist Jayne Wrightsman (1919-2019) in her London residence in St James's.
From 1773 until the French Revolution Georges Jacob worked continuously for the Royal family, furnishing the main royal residences including Versailles and undertaking many commissions for members of the Royal Court. At the end of the Ancien Régime he conceived furniture in solid mahogany, such as this méridienne, in the Etruscan manner based on designs by Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (illustrated in N. de Reyniès, Le Mobilier Domestique, Paris, 1987, vol. I, p. 77, fig. 142). He retired in 1796, leaving his five sons to continue his business, which they did until 1813 when the firm, by then called Jacob-Desmalter & Co., went into administration.
Jayne Wrightsman was an American philanthropist, art collector and widow of the oil tycoon Charles Wrightsman (1895-1986) who carefully established what was considered to be the finest private collection of French decorative arts in the United States. They were great benefactors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York creating the Wrightsman Galleries for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Mrs. Wrightsman's collection was dispersed at Christie's, New York in October 2020.
Georges Jacob (1739-1814), maître in 1765.
This elegant méridienne by Georges Jacob, designed à l'antique at the end of the reign of Louis XVI, was part of the collection of the celebrated collector and philanthropist Jayne Wrightsman (1919-2019) in her London residence in St James's.
From 1773 until the French Revolution Georges Jacob worked continuously for the Royal family, furnishing the main royal residences including Versailles and undertaking many commissions for members of the Royal Court. At the end of the Ancien Régime he conceived furniture in solid mahogany, such as this méridienne, in the Etruscan manner based on designs by Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (illustrated in N. de Reyniès, Le Mobilier Domestique, Paris, 1987, vol. I, p. 77, fig. 142). He retired in 1796, leaving his five sons to continue his business, which they did until 1813 when the firm, by then called Jacob-Desmalter & Co., went into administration.
Jayne Wrightsman was an American philanthropist, art collector and widow of the oil tycoon Charles Wrightsman (1895-1986) who carefully established what was considered to be the finest private collection of French decorative arts in the United States. They were great benefactors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York creating the Wrightsman Galleries for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Mrs. Wrightsman's collection was dispersed at Christie's, New York in October 2020.