Jacob Desmalter - Half Cabriolet Armchair - Mahogany - Provenance Label - Empire Period

Visible in Paris. Free transport for Paris and its suburbs; €80 for France. Contact me for the rest of the world.

Jacob Desmalter
Semi-cabriolet armchair
Pegged belt
Mahogany and mahogany veneer
Dimensions : H. 93 ; W. 52 ; D. 50 (cm.)
Paris, circa 1803 - 1813
Stamp on the front crosspiece

An unusual mahogany armchair resting on spindle-shaped front legs and balusters with rings at the front and sabre-shaped at the back. The belts are solid and the back is moulded. The acotoirs have a curious spherical shape with rich palmettes decoration.

This chair bears the Jacob stamp, which is difficult to read because of the work of successive upholsterers. It reads: J . C ......... / ...... LEE's delivery label is still perfectly preserved. It refers to a "Mademoiselle". In addition to the title, it may refer to Mademoiselle Avrillion (the names of those who commissioned the work are usually clearly shown on the Jacobs' labels), Joséphine's first chambermaid. She had a close relationship with the Empress, and published memoirs that met with some success.  
This chair is undoubtedly a rare item in the corpus of furniture delivered for the close relatives of the imperial family and can be linked to a chair delivered by Jacob Desmalter for the flats of Joséphine's lady-in-waiting, Adélaïde de la Rochefoucault, which will shortly be on sale.
The front legs of this chair are similar to those of the armchairs made by Jacob Desmalter and delivered by Darrac in 1810 for the salon du déjeun in the Emperor's flats at the Grand Trianon.

François-Honoré-Georges Desmalter: the most fashionable Parisian cabinetmaker at the beginning of the 19th century, he employed more than three hundred workers to fulfil imperial and private orders. The firm went bankrupt in 1813 when the imperial regime defaulted on its payments. François Honoré Georges Jacob Desmalter resurrected the company at the time of the Restoration, regaining the Bourbon clientele that had made his father's reputation.

Condition report: restored by our workshop. Joinery with no gaps, varnish revived, upholstered to new by our upholsterer who recreated a seat in animal hair and all in knife edge, the back is in ball to match the curve. Fabric from Lelièvre imitating horsehair and matching trimmings.