Pair of mahogany and mahogany veneer "Etruscan"... Lot 102

Pair of mahogany and mahogany veneer "Etruscan" armchairs, the backs reversed with openwork decoration and a band carved with palmettes. The arm brackets in ringed shaft are topped with lion's heads. The front legs are hocked and end in claws, the back legs are sabre-shaped. Stamped JACOB FRERES RUE MESLEE. Consulate period. Fire marks and inventory marks in stencil ink: FON and three fleurs-de-lis surmounted by a closed crown (fire marks under the Restoration for the Château de Fontainebleau); in black F.6 3371 and handwritten label (torn): 337(.)/6 (inventory of 1814), in red 207 F 7330 (inventory of 1832); in black F 4206 (inventory of 1855). Seats upholstered in orange-yellow silk velvet. H. : 94 cm. L. : 61 cm. P. : 66 cm. Provenance : Galerie Didier Aaron, Paris. This stamp corresponds to the association between Georges II and François-Honoré-Georges JACOB, between 1796 and 1803. The inventory marks allow us to trace the location of these seats in the Palais de Fontainebleau. The mark "3371" refers to the inventory of 1814 which mentions "six armchairs, backs with boards and mosaics covered with (yellow and white lampas)", located in the Salon of apartment n°3 overlooking the Cour des princes. The mark "207 F 330" referring to the inventory of 1832, mentions "Four armchairs wood and fabric idem back with board and day and mosaic", located in the Salon of apartment 207 of the Court of Princes. Finally, a last inventory of 1855 lists in the Cour des princes, on the second floor, in the second room of apartment no. 151-153: "Two armchairs in carved mahogany, feet with claws and hocks, armrests with lion heads, backrest with grids and crosses, upholstered in horsehair covered in fabric idem and lézarde idem". Still in this inventory, Cour des princes, second floor, in the Salon of apartment n° 191-192 are described: "Four armchairs in carved mahogany, feet with claws and hocks, armrests with lion heads, back with grids and crosses, upholstered in horsehair covered with the same fabric and the same lizard". The inventories reveal that at least from 1814 six armchairs and six chairs made up this set. A model almost identical to the one we are presenting is now kept at the Mobilier National (GMT-3542-003). It was part of a suite of six armchairs, two of which were placed in the first Salon of the Empress in the Tuileries Palace. Bibliography : - DUMONTHIER, Ernest, Les Sièges de Jacob Frères, 1921, pl.10, reprod.