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PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR A CONSULAR GILTWOOD MINIATURE FAUTEUIL ATTRIBUTED TO JACOB FRË

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR A CONSULAR GILTWOOD MINIATURE FAUTEUIL ATTRIBUTED TO JACOB FRË
property of a distinguished collector A CONSULAR GILTWOOD MINIATURE FAUTEUIL Attributed to Jacob FrËres or Jacob-Desmalter, 1800-1805 The rectangular crestrail set with a rosette-filled guilloche surmounted by a strung bow, above a padded seatback opening to reveal a mirror above a yellow silk-lined padded drawer, flanked by disengaged fluted quiver form uprights, issuing armrests formed of ribbon-bound reeds, above a flaring padded seat and seatrail with sunken frieze centered by a flowerhead flanked by berried laurel branches, opening to a drawer, with paneled sabre legs to the rear and flaming spiral-fluted torch-form legs on ball feet to the front 24 x 161?2 x 131?4 in. (62 x 42 x 33.5 cm) $25,000-35,000 Provenance Sotheby’s Monaco, December 11, 1999, lot 172. With its crestrail set with a rosette-filled guilloche surmounted by a strung bow, disengaged fluted quiver form uprights, and flaming spiral-fluted torch-form legs juxtaposed with a thick seatrail with sunken frieze centered by a flowerhead flanked by branches and paneled sabre legs, this fauteuil marks the stylistic development from the Louis XVI to the Empire style. Its form and the ornament used thereon must be the work of none other than Georges Jacob (1739-1814, maÓtre in 1765), one of the few menuisiers who flourished during the final years of the ancien RÈgime and managed a successful transition through the Revolution to re-emerge, arguably even more successful, working in the Empire style during the first years of the 19th century. Although Jacob used the Louis XVI motifs listed above from about 1780 and sabre legs as early as 1793, as on the model of fauteuil represented by lot 58, the flowerheads and stiff, yet not regimented, berried laurel branches to the seatrail, the proportionally thick limbs and the martial iconography suggest a Consular date for this chair. This dating is further reinforced by the fact that the fauteuil is executed in giltwood, as Jacob seems to have virtually suspended his work in this medium during the 1790s while he experimented with mahogany and satisfied the voracious appetite of his clients for it. At the moment when this fauteuil was made, 1800-1805, Jacob was still in retirement (1796-1803) and acting as an advisor to his two sons, George II and FranÁois-HonorÈ-Georges, who operated the business under the name Jacob FrËres. Following this seven-year hiatus, Jacob worked with the latter son under the name Jacob-Desmalter (1803-1813). The present fauteuil must have been made to fill a special order by one of these two incarnations of the Jacob empire.