A Pair of Restauration Giltwood Fauteuil from the Palais De Tuileries, Circa 1815, by Jacob-desmalter

We are offering to you this Exceptional Pair of Chairs.

This suite of chairs is a variation on a well-known design produced by Jacob-Desmalter for several commissions during the Empire period. The most notable examples are held by the Mobilier National (GMT-8532-001) and were created for the Emperor’s First Salon in 1808. Consistent between models are the flat, rectilinear surfaces with applied rosettes and palmettes, and particularly the double-scroll form of the armrest and the legs. The suite appears frequently in portraits of the noble and powerful courtiers of Napoleon: for example, a version of the chair with rosettes and not palmettes to the seat rail can be seen on the portrait of Michel, comte Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angély by François Gerard (now at Versailles, MV 5753), while a version with the same flat back as the present lot can be seen in the portrait of Empress Marie-Louise by the same artist (MV 4703). The Mobilier National also holds another variation of the design, this one for the apartments of Joachim Murat on the first floor of the Elysée Palace (GMT-28008-001).

This suite almost certainly comes from the commission for the apartments of the Duchesse de Serrent in the Tuileries Palace, since the stamp to the seat rails is the Tuileries mark at use during the Restauration period (1815-1830). In the inventory of the Tuileries palace in 1816, there is careful description of a large giltwood suite, of which number 2079 corresponds to the present lot:

2077 Deux Bergères bois sculpté et doré, pieds à balustre sur fond plat palmettes montantes et à rechutes, accotoirs à rouleau, dossiers carrés et à feuilles de laurier garnies en crin, carreau de plumes velours de Soie ponceau avec clous dorés sous galon à…..750….1500

2078 Deux tabourets de pied de même bois et étoffe pieds à châssis chantournés à...45…90

2079 Douze fauteuils même bois et étoffe garnis en plein et en crin à…..310….3720

2080 Douze Chaises même bois et étoffe garnis en plein et en crin à…..180….2100

Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent (1739-1823), née de Montmorency-Luxembourg, was a courtier both prior to and after the French Revolution. Under Louis XVI, she was the dame d’atour to the king’s sister Princess Élisabeth of France; later, she served as dame d’honneur to Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême and daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, from 1799 to her death.

Provenance - Palais de Tuileries, in the apartments of the Duchesse de Serrent by 1816.

Literature - Paris, Archives nationales, Garde-Meuble, Inventaire du palais des Tuileries, 1816 (AJ/19/146, p.256; O3 2008)

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Chris