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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine Empire carved mahogany fauteuil de bureau attributed to Jacob Desmalter et Cie, the shaped gondola back terminating in finely carved rams’ heads, on curved supports above a padded leather seat, the straight seat-rail above turned legs, each headed by a gilded rosette Paris, date circa 1805 Height 80 cm, width 62 cm, depth 48 cm. Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, “Le Mobilier Français de la Transition Louis XV-Louis XVI à 1925”, 1980, p. 154, pl. 146, illustrating a mahogany bergère, likewise with a gondola back and toprail terminated by similar carved rams’ heads and additional cloven hoof feet. The bergère was part of a suite composed of a canapé, eight begères and two chaises. The inspiration for these magnificent carved rams’ heads may have derived from available sources such as an engraving, now in the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris by Nicolas Xavier Willemin, which shows a decorative ram’s head from an Etruscan horn-shaped drinking vessel known as a rhyton, (illustrated in Ulrich Leben, Molitor, Ebéniste from the Ancien Régime to the Bourbon Restoration”, 1992, p. 116, pl. 116). Willemin’s “Collection de plus beaux ouverages de l’antiquité”, published sometime before the abolition of the monarchy in 1792 included a number of engravings, derived from various sources, illustrating numerous ancient furnishings, artefacts and architectural ornaments. Among them were many decorative elements derived from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, which in turn inspired a new type of classical French furniture such as that made by Jacob Frères and Jacob Desmalter et Cie during the Consulate and Empire periods. Such inspiration is clearly evident here as well as in other pieces by Jacob such as a bergère with arm rests supported by gilded sphinxes (illus. Kjellberg, ibid. p. 154). It also compares very closely with another slightly later Jacob fauteuil de bureau with lion head terminals, previously sold in this gallery (illustrated “Richard Redding Masterpieces of the Past”, 2000, p. 40). |