French Empire Mahogany 'Egyptian' Bergère Attributed to Desmalter, circa 1805

A rare and important circa 1805 'Egyptian-style' bergère believed to be an early work of famed French Empire furniture-maker François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter of 'tub-chair' form having upholstered solid mahogany frame, the semicircular back with rounded continuous crest rail ending in dramatically carved 'lioness' heads atop sloping arm supports ending in tall rosette-carved corner-blocks connecting to D-shaped seat on naturalistically carved lion front and rear legs as supports.

Although apparently unsigned, this armchair is most certainly an early work of Jacob-Desmalter and is believed to predate 'The Denon Chair' (once owned by Thomas Hope and now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London) he made between 1803 and 1813 and designed by Baron Dominique Vivant Denon shortly after his seminal work "Fragments d'hiéroglyphes de grandeur naturelle" was published in 1802. Sharing nearly identically carved lion-leg supports, the difference being this chair with 'canted' rear legs and the 'Denon' chair with legs-aligned; the earlier ascription is due to the rosette carved corner blocks being a lingering 'remainder' motif from earlier Louis XVI and Directoire styles.

The Victoria & Albert Museum describe 'The Denon Chair' as: Based on drawings published by Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (born in Chalon-sur-Saône, France, 1747, died in Paris, 1825); made by the firm of Jacob-Desmalter, Paris. One of a pair of armchairs that were first recorded at the Christie's sale of the Hope heirlooms from Deepdene, Surrey, the country house of Thomas Hope (1769-1831) on 18 July 1917, lot 140. (They sold for £21.) No certain record exists to confirm that the chairs were in the house during the 19th century. However, in 1819 the novelist Maria Edgeworth visited Deepdene, and described 'a bed made exactly after the model of Denon's Egyptian bed, a sofa bed wide enough for two aldermen'. This bed was probably en suite with the pair of arm chairs. A similar pair of chairs were in the collection of Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825), a museum director in Paris and a great Egyptologist. He was in Egypt during Napoleon's campaigns there, quickly writing up his experiences as Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypte, published in 1802. His monumental Description de l'Egypte appeared between 1809 and 1822. Denon copied a number of designs for chairs from the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs, including several which relate to this chair. Thomas Hope, in turn, may either have bought the chairs from the sale of Denon's collection or commissioned chairs and a bed to be made in Denon's Egyptian style.


Biography: François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841)

François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter ran one of the most important and prosperous furniture workshops in Paris at the beginning of the 1800s. The son of a well-known chairmaker, Georges Jacob, Jacob-Desmalter took over his father's business with his older brother in 1796. When his brother died six years later, Jacob-Desmalter hired his father back as his partner and began to develop one of the largest furniture workshops in Paris. By 1808 he employed 332 workmen to produce pieces worth over 700,000 francs per year. A third of this stock was destined for export; his warehouse alone held over 500,000 francs' worth of furniture.

Furniture produced by the firm of Jacob-Desmalter et Cie (Co.) was mainly made from mahogany in the Empire style, where geometric shapes and straight lines prevailed. The clients included Pauline Borghese, Napoleon I's sister, and the Empress Josephine, for whom he supplied numerous pieces for the imperial residences. One particularly important commission was a magnificent cradle built for the infant Napoleon II, king of Rome.

Greatly dependent on orders from Napoleon's household, the business went bankrupt in 1813, when the Emperor fell from power. Jacob-Desmalter, however, managed to resurrect the company and continued to run it until his son, Alphonse-George, succeeded him in 1825.

Biography courtesy of The Getty Center and Museum.