George III Mahogany Bergere Chair

With straight molded crestrail over a caned back and sides, the arms with leather arm pads, tufted green leather seat cushion over a caned seat. Pull out foot rest. Raised on circula...

With serpentine crest rail over a pierced splat, drop in seat, square legs and stretcher and foot rest. Raised on a base with square section legs.

Each with carved serpentine crest rail and pierced vasi-form splat and serpentine seat raised on square section legs with H form stretcher.

With a serpentine crest rail over a pierced splat. The arms with a gentle outward sweep. Needlepoint drop in seat. Square section legs with stretchers.

An unusual English Regency period upholstered bergere or armchair having concave backrest corners and carved mahogany acanthus and panel motifs on arm terminals, corner blocks, and s...

A Pair of George III Mahogany Gainsborough Armchairs and Accompanying Stool The arms and legs with exceptional blind fretwork carving, on leather casters with stitched hessian upholstery. In the manner of William Masters...

A Directoire Mahogany Bergère Attributed to Georges Jacob, its curved back and padded armrests with finely carved baluster-shaped supports raised on turned front legs and sabre back legs. With a spurious Jacob stamp to back rail. The term "Directoire" refers to a historical period following the French Revolution (1789) and preceding the First Empire when Napoleon reigned, but also to a style of furniture and decoration covering a longer period from 1789 to 1804. It is characterized by the production of furniture with simplified forms and ornaments, inspired by antique decorations. The profound social and political upheavals that marked this period had a direct impact on the production of Directoire furniture. The stripping down of furniture pieces, which had begun in the 1780s under the influence of Greek art, was accentuated during this period. The abolition of guilds by the revolutionaries also forced manufacturers in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine to simplify shapes and materials. Elegant and graceful, the furniture is generally small-scale. They retain the Louis XVI structure. The Directoire style adopts clean shapes, straight lines, simple curves, flat surfaces and right angles. Lines accentuate geometric shapes inspired by Antiquity. A typical trait is the pronounced rolled-over back, similar to a scroll illustrated in our bergere, evocative of the klismos chair. Only the more luxurious pieces of furniture use mahogany, an exotic and expensive wood. Despite his humble origins, Georges Jacob rose to become one of the most renowned menuisiers of his day. Unlike many artisans who joined their fathers or brothers in the middle-class family trade of furniture making, Jacob was from a peasant family and moved to Paris at sixteen to begin his career. He apprenticed in a joinery workshop and eventually became a master in 1765. He developed a reputation for producing inventive designs for chairs, beds, and screens carved with such motifs as twisted ribbons, guilloches, beading, and fluting. Jacob's reputation grew quickly, eventually spreading outside France; the future King George IV of England, Gustavus III of Sweden, and several German princes...

An English 18th-century carved mahogany library armchair - or bergère - of good rich colour. George III, circa 1780. This antique Sheraton-period armchair, sometimes described as a bergère (bergere) chair, is raised on reeded square tapering legs which merge, headed by a carved rosette panel...