French Directoire Period, Pair of Sofas, Jacob Freres Rue Meslée, circa 1798

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French Directoire Period, Pair of Sofas, Jacob Freres Rue Meslée, circa 1798

About the Item

We are pleased to present you, a gorgeous, rare and decorative French Directoire period, a pair of rectangular form sofas in mahogany, finely hand-carved with escutcheon, branches, flowers and stars. Beautiful and exciting French work late 18th century attributed to Jacob Freres Rue Meslée circa 1798. Dimensions: 32.28 in. H, 48.42 in. W, 25.59 in. D, 15.78 in. seat H. The sofas are in perfect condition, newly upholstered. François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter: François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841) oversaw one of the most successful and influential furniture workshops in Paris, from 1796 to 1825. The son of Georges Jacob, an outstanding chairmaker who worked in the Louis XVI style and Directoire styles of the earlier phase of Neoclassicism and executed many royal commissions, Jacob-Desmalter, in partnership with his older brother, assumed the family workshop in 1796. Freed from the Parisian guild restrictions of the Ancien Régime, the workshop was now able to produce veneered case-pieces in addition to turned and carved seat furniture. When his brother died, Jacob-Desmalter drew his father from retirement and began to develop one of the largest furniture workshops in Napoleonic Paris. Furniture in the Empire style produced by the firm of Jacob-Desmalter et Cie ("and Company") in rue Meslée, Paris, mainly employed mahogany veneers with gilt-bronze mounts. Seat furniture forms, of mahogany when they were not painted or gilded, derived inspiration from seats and thrones of Antiquity, recognizable in details from bas-reliefs and on Greek vases. Jacob-Desmalter, the principal supplier of furniture to the Emperor, also received commissions from Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's sister in Rome, and the Empresses Joséphine and Marie Louise, for whom he supplied numerous pieces for the Château de Malmaison, the Château de Compiègne, the Tuileries Palace, and other imperial residences. Important commissions included a great cradle built for the infant King of Rome, and the most expensive single item, the jewel cabinet for the Empress, delivered in 1809 for the Empress Joséphine's state bedroom in the Tuileries (soon to be used by Marie-Louise). It was designed by the architect Charles Percier and embellished with gilt-bronze plaques: the central one, according to its original description, depicts the "Birth of the Queen of the Earth, to whom Cupids and Goddesses hasten with their Offerings" by the Empire's most eminent bronzier, Pierre-Philippe Thomire, modelled by Antoine-Denis Chaudet. Greatly dependent on orders from Napoleon, the firm went bankrupt in 1813, when Imperial debts mounted during the last phase of the Napoleonic Empire. Jacob-Desmalter, however, managed to resurrect the company, and commissions revived after 1815; he continued to run it until his son, Alphonse-George, succeeded him in 1825. Jacob Frères was the stamp used by the brothers Georges II (1768-1803) and François-Honoré Jacob (1770-1841) from 1796-1803. They were the sons of Georges Jacob (1739-1814), a furniture maker who worked for aristocracy and royalty during the reign of Louis XVI. Among his clients during that time were Marie Antoinette, the Comte d'Artois, and the Comte de Vandrenil. During the early years of the revolution, Georges Jacob produced furniture in the new "antique" style for the Painter Jacques-Louis David. This tie with the famous painter proved fortuitous as David later defended Georges Jacob from suspicions of having royalist sympathies and helped arranged Jacob to work for the National Convention supplying furniture for a meeting room. During this time Georges Jacob worked from designs by David and by a partnership of Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, which explains the classical influences on the furniture, as these designers were known for favoring that type of design. In 1796, during the Directory years, Georges Jacob decided to transfer his business to his two sons, Georges II and François-Honoré Jacob, and retire. The Jacob Frères company formed by the two brothers was supported by the governments it served under and held in high regard by the avant-garde who thought of the company as the "obvious and almost only choice in Paris for new luxury furniture." The Jacob Frères continued to work from designs by Percier and Fontaine much like their father, however, the younger brother, François-Honoré Jacob, was also an accomplished draftsman and could create designs for lesser pieces of furniture that complimented the design provided. The Jacob Frères would also take the successful designs and reproduce them for other clients on unrelated commissions, which helped to spread the empire style and also made the imperial residences relatively uniform in decoration. However, this also means that any particular model cannot be attributed to anyone without the design on paper by a recognizable signature. The Jacob Frères most famous client was Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. She would have most likely seen the work of their father during the revolution in a progressive aristocrat's house. She used them to decorate various imperial residences, such as the Tuileries palace, and remained a loyal customer, using them almost exclusively, until her death. When Georges II (the elder brother) died in 1803, Georges came out of retirement to help the remaining son, François-Honoré (who changed his named to Jacob Desmalter) from a new partnership called Jacob Desmalter Et Cie. (stamped Jacob D. R. Mesleé, on two lines), which continued to be a influential supplier for the imperial period and is credited with helping to define the Empire style as it is known today. * Sources Constantino, Ruth T. How to Know French Antiques. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1961. 89. Print. * Draper, James David. The Arts Under Napoleon (exhibition April 6-July 30, 1978). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1978 * Librarie Hachette. French Cabinetmakers of the Eighteenth Century. New York: French and European Publications Inc, 1965. * Percier, Charles, and Pierre Fountaine. Empire Stylebook of Interior Design. Dover Edition. New York: Dover Publications, INC, 1991. iv. Print. (Translated by unknown - Introduction by unknown author) * Ward, John D. "From Mahogany to Gilt: Josephine's Choices in Furniture." Josephine and the Arts of the Empire. Eleanor P Delorme. Getty Publishing: Los Angeles, 2005.

Attributed to:
Jacob Freres Rue Meslée (Cabinetmaker)
Dimensions:
Height: 32.29 in (82 cm)Width: 48.43 in (123 cm)Depth: 25.6 in (65 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Style:
Directoire (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Mahogany,Hand-Carved
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
Late 18th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1798
Condition:
The sofas are in perfect condition, newly upholstered.
Seller Location:
Saint Ouen, FR
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU173629891161

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