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拍品專文
Henri Jacob, maître in 1779.
The thirty-piece suite by Henri Jacob originally comprised a pair of canapés, a pair of marquises, a pair of bergères en gondole, a set of sixteen fauteuils, four voyeuses and four side chairs. This incredibly large suite would have then ranked amongst the most important ones, as eighteenth-century Beauvais-upholstered suites rarely included more than about twenty seats (J. Badin, La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais, Paris, 1909). Although the whereabouts of this suite remained tantalizingly unknown until the early twentieth century, all thirty seats formed part of the important collection of the Comte and Comtesse Grefuhle, until sold at auction in London in 1937. The most recent group of seat-furniture from this magnificent suite to have come to auction was a set of four fauteuils, which was sold at Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 218.
THE GREFFUHLES
Originally from Sauve in Languedoc, the Greffulhe family left France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After taking refuge in Geneva, they moved to Amsterdam, where they founded a business under the name J. J. Greffulhe et Cie. In May 1789, Louis Greffulhe (1741-1810) relocated to Paris, and in association with Jacques-Marc Montz, under the name Greffulhe, Montz et Co., took over the business of the Girardot et Haller bank, founded at the beginning of the century and with which Necker had been associated. The bank was dissolved in 1793, and Louis Greffulhe left for England to set up a new banking house in London. The Greffulhe family returned to France under the the reign of Napoleon. Jean-Louis (1774-1820), son of Louis Greffulhe, later allied himself with the Bourbons and eventually acquired the Château de Bois-Boudran near Fontenailles in the Seine-et-Marne department. In 1816, Jean-Louis was one of a group of French bankers associated with Baring and Hope to issue loans to aid the French royalists. Two years later he received the title of Count from Louis XVIII. Jean-Louis and his wife Célestine Gabrielle de Vintimille du Luc (1787-1862) had two sons: Charles (1814-1888), who inherited his business and the Bois-Boudran property and, around 1867, purchased the hôtels at 8 and 10 rue d'Astorg, and Henri (1815-1879). Charles Greffulhe married Félicité Pauline de La Rochefoucauld (1824-1911) on April 29, 1846.
They had three children: Henri (1848-1932); Jeanne (1850-1891) who married Auguste, duc d'Arenberg; and Louise (1852-1932) who married Robert des Acres de l'Aigle, marquis de L'Aigle. In 1878, Henri married Elisabeth de Riquet, princesse de Caraman-Chimay (1860-1952). Elisabeth was a renowned beauty and the uncontested queen of the salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. She was idolized by Proust, amongst others, and famously served as the inspiration for the Duchesse de Guermantes in his novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Widely respected as an arbiter of taste, she launched a fashion for greyhound racing, was a patron of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and promoted many other artists in high society which included Rodin, Moreau and, in particular, Whistler. The comte and comtesse shared their time between their Parisian hôtel on the rue d’Astorg and the château de Bois-Boudran, Seine-et-Marne. It is not certain however which of the two Greffuhle residences the present suite of seat furniture formerly stood in. The stenciled mark on the underside of one sofa is that of Henry Penon (1830-1907), tapissier décorateur to Empress Eugénie and no doubt his company, maison Penon Frères, was employed to restore the suite in the late nineteenth century for the Greffuhles. The Greffuhle collections were partly dispersed several years after Henry’s death in 1932, whilst the rest was bequeathed to the couple’s only child Elaine (1882-1958), wife of Armand de Gramont (1879-1962), after Elisabeth’s death.
HENRI JACOB
Henri Jacob (d.1824) was born in 1753 and trained with his cousin Georges Jacob, the celebrated menuisier, for six years before receiving his maîtrise in 1779. He became an accomplished and prolific menuisier-ébéniste, counting amongst his most illustrious clients the future Paul I of Russia and his wife Maria Feodorovna. As the future tsar and his spouse travelled to France as the comte and comtesse du Nord in 1782, they ordered over two hundred chairs and other pieces of furniture from Jacob for Pavlovsk, their new palace near St. Petersburg (D. Ledoux-Lebard, ‘Henri Jacob, un menuisier-ébéniste original’, L’Estampille-Objet d’Art, March 1995, pp. 46-57). Like his cousin Georges, Henri was able to produce both seats and furniture towards the end of his career, after the abolition of the guilds. His oeuvre is often compared with that of his celebrated cousin, given the undeniable similarities and rapprochements, the impeccable quality of his work and the fact that both worked for the Crown. An exquisite pair of Directoire mahogany chairs executed by Henri circa 1790, featuring interlaced pierced splats with hoof feet, is in the Louvre (B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Musée du Louvre, vol II, Dijon, 1993, no.66). The latter pair exemplifies Jacob's remarkable production of Directoire (and later Consulat) mahogany seats; and the comparatively rare number of Louis XVI sieges he produced makes the present suite all the more desirable.
The thirty-piece suite by Henri Jacob originally comprised a pair of canapés, a pair of marquises, a pair of bergères en gondole, a set of sixteen fauteuils, four voyeuses and four side chairs. This incredibly large suite would have then ranked amongst the most important ones, as eighteenth-century Beauvais-upholstered suites rarely included more than about twenty seats (J. Badin, La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais, Paris, 1909). Although the whereabouts of this suite remained tantalizingly unknown until the early twentieth century, all thirty seats formed part of the important collection of the Comte and Comtesse Grefuhle, until sold at auction in London in 1937. The most recent group of seat-furniture from this magnificent suite to have come to auction was a set of four fauteuils, which was sold at Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 218.
THE GREFFUHLES
Originally from Sauve in Languedoc, the Greffulhe family left France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After taking refuge in Geneva, they moved to Amsterdam, where they founded a business under the name J. J. Greffulhe et Cie. In May 1789, Louis Greffulhe (1741-1810) relocated to Paris, and in association with Jacques-Marc Montz, under the name Greffulhe, Montz et Co., took over the business of the Girardot et Haller bank, founded at the beginning of the century and with which Necker had been associated. The bank was dissolved in 1793, and Louis Greffulhe left for England to set up a new banking house in London. The Greffulhe family returned to France under the the reign of Napoleon. Jean-Louis (1774-1820), son of Louis Greffulhe, later allied himself with the Bourbons and eventually acquired the Château de Bois-Boudran near Fontenailles in the Seine-et-Marne department. In 1816, Jean-Louis was one of a group of French bankers associated with Baring and Hope to issue loans to aid the French royalists. Two years later he received the title of Count from Louis XVIII. Jean-Louis and his wife Célestine Gabrielle de Vintimille du Luc (1787-1862) had two sons: Charles (1814-1888), who inherited his business and the Bois-Boudran property and, around 1867, purchased the hôtels at 8 and 10 rue d'Astorg, and Henri (1815-1879). Charles Greffulhe married Félicité Pauline de La Rochefoucauld (1824-1911) on April 29, 1846.
They had three children: Henri (1848-1932); Jeanne (1850-1891) who married Auguste, duc d'Arenberg; and Louise (1852-1932) who married Robert des Acres de l'Aigle, marquis de L'Aigle. In 1878, Henri married Elisabeth de Riquet, princesse de Caraman-Chimay (1860-1952). Elisabeth was a renowned beauty and the uncontested queen of the salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. She was idolized by Proust, amongst others, and famously served as the inspiration for the Duchesse de Guermantes in his novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Widely respected as an arbiter of taste, she launched a fashion for greyhound racing, was a patron of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and promoted many other artists in high society which included Rodin, Moreau and, in particular, Whistler. The comte and comtesse shared their time between their Parisian hôtel on the rue d’Astorg and the château de Bois-Boudran, Seine-et-Marne. It is not certain however which of the two Greffuhle residences the present suite of seat furniture formerly stood in. The stenciled mark on the underside of one sofa is that of Henry Penon (1830-1907), tapissier décorateur to Empress Eugénie and no doubt his company, maison Penon Frères, was employed to restore the suite in the late nineteenth century for the Greffuhles. The Greffuhle collections were partly dispersed several years after Henry’s death in 1932, whilst the rest was bequeathed to the couple’s only child Elaine (1882-1958), wife of Armand de Gramont (1879-1962), after Elisabeth’s death.
HENRI JACOB
Henri Jacob (d.1824) was born in 1753 and trained with his cousin Georges Jacob, the celebrated menuisier, for six years before receiving his maîtrise in 1779. He became an accomplished and prolific menuisier-ébéniste, counting amongst his most illustrious clients the future Paul I of Russia and his wife Maria Feodorovna. As the future tsar and his spouse travelled to France as the comte and comtesse du Nord in 1782, they ordered over two hundred chairs and other pieces of furniture from Jacob for Pavlovsk, their new palace near St. Petersburg (D. Ledoux-Lebard, ‘Henri Jacob, un menuisier-ébéniste original’, L’Estampille-Objet d’Art, March 1995, pp. 46-57). Like his cousin Georges, Henri was able to produce both seats and furniture towards the end of his career, after the abolition of the guilds. His oeuvre is often compared with that of his celebrated cousin, given the undeniable similarities and rapprochements, the impeccable quality of his work and the fact that both worked for the Crown. An exquisite pair of Directoire mahogany chairs executed by Henri circa 1790, featuring interlaced pierced splats with hoof feet, is in the Louvre (B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Musée du Louvre, vol II, Dijon, 1993, no.66). The latter pair exemplifies Jacob's remarkable production of Directoire (and later Consulat) mahogany seats; and the comparatively rare number of Louis XVI sieges he produced makes the present suite all the more desirable.