WRITING TABLE in mahogany veneer and wood with... Lot 345

WRITING TABLE in mahogany veneer and wood with an imitation bronze patina, moulded and carved with flattened palmettes and ribbed water leaves, scrolls, fleurons and boar's heads on the front brackets. The rear uprights with double baluster joined by a curved shelf. The sloping top opens to two side drawers. Stamped H. Jacob Directoire period (restorations, veneer damages and lifting) H: 83 - W: 82 - D: 52 cm Provenance : Jean LEFEVRE (1908- 1965), architect. Originally from Burgundy, Henri Jacob (1753-1824), arrived in Paris in 1770 and began his apprenticeship in the workshop of his cousin Georges Jacob, rue de Cléry. In 1778, he opened his own workshop on rue Bourbon-Villeneuve and received his master's degree the following year. Thanks to the support of Georges Jacob and through the intermediary of the upholsterer Le Doyen, he made some seats for the Crown. In 1782, he receives from the future Tsar Paul I of Russia and his wife Maria Feodorovna, an order of more than two hundred seats and furniture for the palace of Pavlovsk. This great activity allows Henri Jacob to build in 1782 a building in the rue de l'Echiquier with lodgings, a workshop and a shop. The revolutionary period caused a slowdown in activity, but the abolition of the guild system allowed Henri Jacob to produce furniture. However, financial difficulties forced him to sell the contents of his shop at auction in 1800, before being expropriated in 1806. He then ceased his activity. Henri Jacob, trained by Georges Jacob, remained influenced by this "Master" with whom he worked for a long time, but he remained a great craftsman. His style, as shown by the furniture we present, combines delicacy and richness of sculpture Cf : " Henri Jacob, un menuisier-ébéniste original " by Denise Ledoux-Lebard, in l'Estampille-l'Objet d'art march 1995, n°289, p.46-57. This writing table is reproduced in Denise Ledoux-Lebard's book on French Furniture of the 19th Century, Paris 1989, L'Amateur Ed. p. 371.