François Honoré Jacob (1770-1841) - Four Large Empire Period Mahogany Armchairs circa 1810

François Honoré Jacob (1770-1841) - Four Large Empire Period Mahogany Armchairs circa 1810

These magnificent armchairs bear the prestigious stamp of Jacob D Rue Meslée, a mark used by François-Honoré Jacob-Desmalter.

Four beautiful, wide, large, and rare mahogany and mahogany veneer armchairs, with flat backs simply molded, the armrests ending in a palmette enhanced with gilding, resting on double baluster front feet or Jacob feet and saber rear feet.

A superb upholstery work has been undertaken, with framed backs, cushioned seats in a beautiful yellow fabric.

French work from the Empire period circa 1810, stamped Jacob D Rue Meslée for François Honoré Jacob (1770-1841).

Dimensions:

Height: 38.58 inches.

Width: 24.8 inches.

Depth: 21.26 inches.

Seat Height: 19.69 inches.

In very good condition, French polished in our workshops, old-style upholstery changed.

Biography:

François-Honoré Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841) is the most fashionable Parisian cabinetmaker between 1796 and 1825.

Son of Georges Jacob who launched the Louis XVI style and the Directoire style, he partnered in 1796 with his brother Georges Jacob Fils to create Jacob Frères Rue Meslée. His father had benefited from the orders of the royal family under the Ancien Régime, the two brothers satisfy the orders of the imperial family.

Using the sketches of the painter Jacques-Louis David and the ornamentalists Percier and Fontaine, the brothers created furniture inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity to launch the Empire style.

Their style is characterized by a high quality of design, clean lines, original shapes, the use of gilded chiseled bronzes (made by Pierre-Philippe Thomire). In cabinetmaking, he uses mahogany, gilded wood, and lacquered wood with, sometimes, ebony inlays and indigenous woods such as maple or yew.

For Empress Joséphine, they delivered furniture to the Château de Malmaison, also to the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, between 1807 and 1809, for the bedroom known as "Napoleon I's bedroom." They work at the Château de Compiègne. They deliver the imposing cradle of the King of Rome, the precious jewel cabinet of Empress Marie-Louise, based on the designs of Percier and Fontaine. They are responsible for the silver salon at the Élysée Palace.

Very dependent on imperial orders, their workshop, which employs more than three hundred workers, went bankrupt in 1813 when the finances of the First Empire could no longer honor its debts.

Jacob-Desmalter, however, manages to revive his business and, with the fall of the Empire, he finds his father's Bourbon clientele again to create furniture in the Restoration style. His son, Georges Alphonse (1799-1870), succeeded him in 1825.

He is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery (15th division).

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