Jacob Desmalter: pair of Empire period armchairs in mahogany - stamped and castle label

Pair of Empire lounge armchairs in mahogany and mahogany veneer, bodèle with straight back, palmette armrest and baluster legs. Our armchair is richly covered in green and tobacco yellow silk decorated with large rosettes and stars (Tassinari and Châtel). End of the Empire period, early 19th century, 1810s. Stamp of Jacob Desmalter et Cie JACOB. D. R. MESLEE, used between 1803 and 1813. Each Seat bears a handwritten Provenance label below: "Monsieur Fin Chateau de G...au, Grand salon"

The Jacob dynasty is probably the most prestigious of French joiners and cabinetmakers of the late 18th century and early 19th century, with immense success as a supplier in particular to the Imperial Furniture Store (as well as that of the Crown before and after the Empire). The seats produced by Jacob's workshop are particularly recognizable by the very high quality of their execution, the always perfect proportions and a great originality in the creation of new shapes and models.

It is interesting, when analyzing the production of Jacob, to note that the models of seats produced by this prestigious workshop are very often a combination of decorative motifs, shapes of feet, armrests, armrest-belt-back connections that are found from one piece of living room furniture to another, thus ensuring the client a unique model, while allowing productivity gains to the Jacob workshop which hired up to 350 workers under the Empire. Our armchairs are for example of a very similar model, almost identical to an armchair that we sell (with the same fabric) but which is stamped .IACOB (Georges-Alphonse Jacob known as Jacob-Desmalter, used between 1813 and 1825), and which bears the marks of the Chateau d'Eu for the Duke of Orleans, future King Louis-Philippe: https://www.gslr-antiques.com/fr/boutique/sieges/fauteuil-royal-jacob-chateau-eu.php

Excellent condition, armchair completely restored to new, completely dismantled, reassembled, revarnished with a tampon, reupholstered and covered with new Empire silk (Lelièvre).

Width: 60cm
Height: 93cm
Seat height: 42cm
Depth: 55cm

Ref: VXY4S6G1M1