.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Georges Jacob, maître in 1765.
With their majestic winged sphinxes and contrasting gold and white decoration, these fauteuils are the first manifestation of the new taste for ancient Egypt in French decorative arts. Delivered as part of a suite by Georges Jacob to the Marquise de Marbeuf between 1788 and 1790, this design combines Greek and Egyptian influences to form a milestone in the history of European decorative arts and are an extraordinary example of the diversity and expertise of menuisiers during the reign of Louis XVI. The suite was recorded and described in the grand salon of the hôtel de Marbeuf as 'un meuble de fond composé de deux grands canapés, six autres petits en forme de causeuses, six grands fauteuils de fond en tapisserie de Beauvais à sujets sur les dossiers de figures d’histoire et fables en tableaux avec encadrements de fleurs, et sur les fonds des paysages en camaïeu sujets d’animaux et aussi encadrés de fleurs; le tout foncé en crin et monté sur bois de forme antique à fond bretté et doré, les bras figurant des sirènes peintes en blanc et dorées' (see Archives Nationales, MNC Etude LXVIII/674 : inventaire après décès de la marquise de Marbeuf du 4 floréal an IV). Two other surviving fauteuils from this suite are recorded: one retaining its original tapestry upholstery and sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 70, and another formerly with Galerie Gismondi, Paris.
According to the above inventory, the grand salon of the hôtel de Marbeuf was heated with a white marble mantelpiece whose uprights took the form of a tripod adorned with sphinxes and lion's claws and was furnished, in addition to the suite, with a crystal chandelier decorated with four Egyptian pyramids, and four plaster candelabra after the antique molded with sphinxes and Egyptian rams' heads. Although not exhaustive, this inventory gives a precise idea of the avant-garde taste asserted by the Marquise de Marbeuf, well before the Egyptomania orchestrated by Vivant-Denon following Napoleon's campaigns in north Africa.
In the mid-1790s the Comité de Salut Public sequestered the hôtel de Marbeuf and sent some of the furniture to the revolutionary depot at Nesle, at the junction of Rue de Beaune and Quai Voltaire (see Archives Nationales: Instruction publique F17/23); however, the suite remained in the hôtel and was used by Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte.
DUGOURC: A POSSIBLE DESIGNER
A possible designer for these strikingly avant garde chairs could be the influential dessinateur Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (1749-1825), who was a leading promoter of the goût étrusque and the related taste for Egypt. The son of an important member of the Orléans household, Dugourc was appointed architecte et dessinateur du Cabinet de Monsieur the duc d'Orléans, brother of Louis XVI, in 1780. It was in 1784, with his promotion as Intendant des bâtiments to the duc, that he finally became attached as dessinateur to the Garde Meuble de la Couronne. Dugourc supplied a number of designs in 1784 for projects in Russia which include chairs with similarly fully sculpted sphinxes (illustrated here). Following the Revolution, Dugourc moved in 1799 to Spain, where he was appointed as Principal Dessinateur et Fournisseur du Roi,supplying extensive designs for textiles and bronzes d'ameublement, and remained there until finally returning to France with the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815.
THE MARQUISE DE MARBEUF AND THE HÔTEL DE MARBEUF
Henriette-Françoise Michel (1739-1794) was born the daughter of Gabriel Michel, Conseiller du Roi, Trésorier général de l’Artillerie and Directeur de Compagnie des Indes; she married Ange-Jacques, Marquis de Marbeuf in Paris on 12 June 1757. In his memoirs, the Duc de Luynes describes the significance of this event, detailing the contract between a colonel of dragoons and the daughter of a wealthy merchant (see Luynes, Duc de: Journal, Paris, 1864, T.XVI, p. 72). In 1788, after separating from her husband, the now Marquise de Marbeuf inherited her family’s hôtel on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Immediately, the marquise began remodeling the building in the neoclassical fashion after the plans of Contant d'Ivry. It was the largest private building project at the time and it continued well into the Revolution. The interior of the building was to be decorated in the latest fashion with the ground floor furnished in the style 'à la Révolutionnaire' and the second floor 'à l’antique.' In 1794, the marquise was declared a traitor and enemy of the people and was sent to the guillotine on February 6 of the same year. Her home was inherited by her sister, the Duchesse de Lévis, who met the same fate a few months later. The building and part of its contents, whatever had not been transferred to the Nesle depot, were eventually acquired by Joseph Bonaparte (see Archives Départementales 75: Registre des Hypothèques, volume 54, n. 22). When Joseph left France upon his appointment as King of Naples and Sicily in 1806, and later King of Spain in 1808, the building was used to house foreign dignitaries visiting Paris.
JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAIN
Born in 1768 in Corte, capital of the Corsican Republic, Joseph Bonaparte was the elder brother of Emperor Napoleon. A lawyer and diplomat, Joseph was a member of the Conseil des Cinq-Cents during the Directoire and served as ambassador to Rome. Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary on 30 September 1800, he signed a treaty for trade and friendship between France and the United States at Mortefontaine. Joseph married Marie Julie Clary in 1794 and together the couple had three daughters. After using his power to install his brother in power, Joseph was decommissioned in 1806 and entrusted with the military government of Naples. Later, he was made King of Naples and Sicily, and remained at the head of his kingdom for two years. In 1808, he took the name of Joseph I when he was crowned King of Spain after the French invasion. Tired of the Iberian revolt, Joseph abdicated in 1813 and returned to France after losing to the British at the Battle of Vitoria.
With their majestic winged sphinxes and contrasting gold and white decoration, these fauteuils are the first manifestation of the new taste for ancient Egypt in French decorative arts. Delivered as part of a suite by Georges Jacob to the Marquise de Marbeuf between 1788 and 1790, this design combines Greek and Egyptian influences to form a milestone in the history of European decorative arts and are an extraordinary example of the diversity and expertise of menuisiers during the reign of Louis XVI. The suite was recorded and described in the grand salon of the hôtel de Marbeuf as 'un meuble de fond composé de deux grands canapés, six autres petits en forme de causeuses, six grands fauteuils de fond en tapisserie de Beauvais à sujets sur les dossiers de figures d’histoire et fables en tableaux avec encadrements de fleurs, et sur les fonds des paysages en camaïeu sujets d’animaux et aussi encadrés de fleurs; le tout foncé en crin et monté sur bois de forme antique à fond bretté et doré, les bras figurant des sirènes peintes en blanc et dorées' (see Archives Nationales, MNC Etude LXVIII/674 : inventaire après décès de la marquise de Marbeuf du 4 floréal an IV). Two other surviving fauteuils from this suite are recorded: one retaining its original tapestry upholstery and sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 70, and another formerly with Galerie Gismondi, Paris.
According to the above inventory, the grand salon of the hôtel de Marbeuf was heated with a white marble mantelpiece whose uprights took the form of a tripod adorned with sphinxes and lion's claws and was furnished, in addition to the suite, with a crystal chandelier decorated with four Egyptian pyramids, and four plaster candelabra after the antique molded with sphinxes and Egyptian rams' heads. Although not exhaustive, this inventory gives a precise idea of the avant-garde taste asserted by the Marquise de Marbeuf, well before the Egyptomania orchestrated by Vivant-Denon following Napoleon's campaigns in north Africa.
In the mid-1790s the Comité de Salut Public sequestered the hôtel de Marbeuf and sent some of the furniture to the revolutionary depot at Nesle, at the junction of Rue de Beaune and Quai Voltaire (see Archives Nationales: Instruction publique F17/23); however, the suite remained in the hôtel and was used by Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte.
DUGOURC: A POSSIBLE DESIGNER
A possible designer for these strikingly avant garde chairs could be the influential dessinateur Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (1749-1825), who was a leading promoter of the goût étrusque and the related taste for Egypt. The son of an important member of the Orléans household, Dugourc was appointed architecte et dessinateur du Cabinet de Monsieur the duc d'Orléans, brother of Louis XVI, in 1780. It was in 1784, with his promotion as Intendant des bâtiments to the duc, that he finally became attached as dessinateur to the Garde Meuble de la Couronne. Dugourc supplied a number of designs in 1784 for projects in Russia which include chairs with similarly fully sculpted sphinxes (illustrated here). Following the Revolution, Dugourc moved in 1799 to Spain, where he was appointed as Principal Dessinateur et Fournisseur du Roi,supplying extensive designs for textiles and bronzes d'ameublement, and remained there until finally returning to France with the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815.
THE MARQUISE DE MARBEUF AND THE HÔTEL DE MARBEUF
Henriette-Françoise Michel (1739-1794) was born the daughter of Gabriel Michel, Conseiller du Roi, Trésorier général de l’Artillerie and Directeur de Compagnie des Indes; she married Ange-Jacques, Marquis de Marbeuf in Paris on 12 June 1757. In his memoirs, the Duc de Luynes describes the significance of this event, detailing the contract between a colonel of dragoons and the daughter of a wealthy merchant (see Luynes, Duc de: Journal, Paris, 1864, T.XVI, p. 72). In 1788, after separating from her husband, the now Marquise de Marbeuf inherited her family’s hôtel on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Immediately, the marquise began remodeling the building in the neoclassical fashion after the plans of Contant d'Ivry. It was the largest private building project at the time and it continued well into the Revolution. The interior of the building was to be decorated in the latest fashion with the ground floor furnished in the style 'à la Révolutionnaire' and the second floor 'à l’antique.' In 1794, the marquise was declared a traitor and enemy of the people and was sent to the guillotine on February 6 of the same year. Her home was inherited by her sister, the Duchesse de Lévis, who met the same fate a few months later. The building and part of its contents, whatever had not been transferred to the Nesle depot, were eventually acquired by Joseph Bonaparte (see Archives Départementales 75: Registre des Hypothèques, volume 54, n. 22). When Joseph left France upon his appointment as King of Naples and Sicily in 1806, and later King of Spain in 1808, the building was used to house foreign dignitaries visiting Paris.
JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAIN
Born in 1768 in Corte, capital of the Corsican Republic, Joseph Bonaparte was the elder brother of Emperor Napoleon. A lawyer and diplomat, Joseph was a member of the Conseil des Cinq-Cents during the Directoire and served as ambassador to Rome. Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary on 30 September 1800, he signed a treaty for trade and friendship between France and the United States at Mortefontaine. Joseph married Marie Julie Clary in 1794 and together the couple had three daughters. After using his power to install his brother in power, Joseph was decommissioned in 1806 and entrusted with the military government of Naples. Later, he was made King of Naples and Sicily, and remained at the head of his kingdom for two years. In 1808, he took the name of Joseph I when he was crowned King of Spain after the French invasion. Tired of the Iberian revolt, Joseph abdicated in 1813 and returned to France after losing to the British at the Battle of Vitoria.