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拍品專文
Characteristic of the early Empire style, these chairs and their patrons reflect the new social and aesthetic order nascent in France at the beginning of the 19th century. They were commissioned for a hero of the Revolutionary wars, Maréchal Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig and his famously straight-talking wife, the laundress turned duchess immortalised as Madame Sans-Gêne.
Of grand proportions and with winged sphinxes in patinated-bronze recalling Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, these chairs are emblematic of the style of the early 19th century and the efforts of the Napoleonic court to create a new national ‘Empire’ style. The sabre back legs, ‘caryatid’ front legs rising from foot to armrest without interruption, sober decoration and generous use of patinated-bronze are particular features of the style. A sofa of related design with similar front legs headed by patinated-bronze sphinx supports, sabre back legs and lightly shaped form is preserved in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (Jarry, op. cit.).
The timber of these chairs, made of walnut simulated to look like mahogany is a further fascinating testament to the political environment of this turbulent period. With France’s main source of mahogany Haïti in revolt and under the control of the British fleets from 1800, French menuisiers were, in a patriotic campaign, encouraged to use indigenous timber for high quality furniture. In his memoirs Georges Jacob refers to walnut ‘en couleur d’acajou’, the very technique used on these chairs, and his son Jacob-Desmalter writes similarly of making a chair ‘en bois français’. It is apt that these chairs, made for one of the Napoleon’s greatest commanders and a man who owed his fortune solely to the establishment of the Empire should physically and visually reflect its socio-economic self-image.
MARECHAL LEFEBVRE AND MADAME SANS-GENE
François Joseph Lefebvre (1755-1820) was born in humble circumstances in Alsace-Lorraine. A soldier from the age of 18, Lefebvre became an early ally of Napoleon Bonaparte and was made Marshal of the Empire in 1804. After besieging and taking the city of Danzig in 1807 he was awarded the title Duke of Danzig and continued to play a key role in many major battles of the Napoleonic wars, rallying to Napoleon in the Hundred Days yet retaining his rank throughout the Restauration.
In 1783 Lefebvre married Catherine Hübscher (1753-1835), a laundress also from the Alsace region. Catherine was famed for her strong-willed personality and her candid manner at court. Of modest origins, the Lefebvres rose to great wealth and noble title under Napoleon and the plain-speaking and unsophisticated duchess of Danzig was reputedly looked down upon my many at court. Her loyalty, wit, and honest criticism supposedly gained her the admiration of Napoleon who dismissed any attempt to dislodge her from the court. This version of Catherine’s life was immortalised by the dramatist Victorien Sardou in his 1893 play Madame Sans-Gêne which saw huge popularity on both stage and screen throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Lefebvres acquired the château de Combault-Pontault in Seine-et-Marne in 1813 and maintained a residence in Paris on the rue Joubert. Mayor of Combault from 1813, the Marshal and his wife spent the majority of their time at the château and the present chairs most likely furnished this residence.
Characteristic of the early Empire style, these chairs and their patrons reflect the new social and aesthetic order nascent in France at the beginning of the 19th century. They were commissioned for a hero of the Revolutionary wars, Maréchal Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig and his famously straight-talking wife, the laundress turned duchess immortalised as Madame Sans-Gêne.
Of grand proportions and with winged sphinxes in patinated-bronze recalling Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, these chairs are emblematic of the style of the early 19th century and the efforts of the Napoleonic court to create a new national ‘Empire’ style. The sabre back legs, ‘caryatid’ front legs rising from foot to armrest without interruption, sober decoration and generous use of patinated-bronze are particular features of the style. A sofa of related design with similar front legs headed by patinated-bronze sphinx supports, sabre back legs and lightly shaped form is preserved in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (Jarry, op. cit.).
The timber of these chairs, made of walnut simulated to look like mahogany is a further fascinating testament to the political environment of this turbulent period. With France’s main source of mahogany Haïti in revolt and under the control of the British fleets from 1800, French menuisiers were, in a patriotic campaign, encouraged to use indigenous timber for high quality furniture. In his memoirs Georges Jacob refers to walnut ‘en couleur d’acajou’, the very technique used on these chairs, and his son Jacob-Desmalter writes similarly of making a chair ‘en bois français’. It is apt that these chairs, made for one of the Napoleon’s greatest commanders and a man who owed his fortune solely to the establishment of the Empire should physically and visually reflect its socio-economic self-image.
MARECHAL LEFEBVRE AND MADAME SANS-GENE
François Joseph Lefebvre (1755-1820) was born in humble circumstances in Alsace-Lorraine. A soldier from the age of 18, Lefebvre became an early ally of Napoleon Bonaparte and was made Marshal of the Empire in 1804. After besieging and taking the city of Danzig in 1807 he was awarded the title Duke of Danzig and continued to play a key role in many major battles of the Napoleonic wars, rallying to Napoleon in the Hundred Days yet retaining his rank throughout the Restauration.
In 1783 Lefebvre married Catherine Hübscher (1753-1835), a laundress also from the Alsace region. Catherine was famed for her strong-willed personality and her candid manner at court. Of modest origins, the Lefebvres rose to great wealth and noble title under Napoleon and the plain-speaking and unsophisticated duchess of Danzig was reputedly looked down upon my many at court. Her loyalty, wit, and honest criticism supposedly gained her the admiration of Napoleon who dismissed any attempt to dislodge her from the court. This version of Catherine’s life was immortalised by the dramatist Victorien Sardou in his 1893 play Madame Sans-Gêne which saw huge popularity on both stage and screen throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Lefebvres acquired the château de Combault-Pontault in Seine-et-Marne in 1813 and maintained a residence in Paris on the rue Joubert. Mayor of Combault from 1813, the Marshal and his wife spent the majority of their time at the château and the present chairs most likely furnished this residence.