Work Fauteuil

Department of Decorative Arts: 18th century: neoclassicism

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Four chairs and two armchairs,

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Four chairs and two armchairs

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Decorative Arts
18th century: neoclassicism

Author(s):
Catherine Voirot

This fauteuil was part of a set supplied in 1777 to the Palais du Temple for the Turkish cabinet of the Count d'Artois. It is a piece that combines various decorative motifs: cornucopia form the arm supports; beading and ropes adorn the arm rests; and double crescents appear on the cubes topping the legs in an echo of the cabinet's Turkish-inspired decoration. Of note is the lavish drapery garnishing the upholstery (recently redone), which was meant to evoke the tents of the sultans.

The Turkish cabinet

The Palais du Temple was the Paris residence of the Count d'Artois. The Count had usufruct of the palace only throughout the minority of his son, the Duke d'Angoulême, who in 1776 was made Great Prior of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. The Turkish cabinet was a room with cut corners, lit by two windows, whose walls were covered with hangings of yellow, gray and white lampas draped in the Roman fashion and held up by twenty-three crescents.

'Turqueries'

The fashion for Turkish-inspired decor was part of the 18th century's larger passion for the Orient. It reached its peak in the 1770s and lasted throughout the next decade with the creation of several Turkish cabinets, particularly at Versailles and at Fontainebleau. Beyond furniture, other areas of the decorative arts reflected this vogue for 'turqueries'. Turkish figures were painted onto Sèvres porcelain and the Manufacture des Gobelins produced a tapestry known as "The Turkish Costume"based on a cartoon by Amédée Van Loo.

Georges Jacob

We know of several seats produced by Georges Jacob before this order. Nevertheless, this set represents the cabinetmaker's first commission of furniture (1777) for the royal family. In 1781, he furnished the Count d'Artois once more with pieces of cabinetwork in the Turkish style. These were meant for the Count's apartments at the Château de Versailles.

Bibliography

- PALLOT B.G.B, Le Mobilier du Louvre, Dijon, Editions faton, 1993, t. II, pp.132-135.

Technical description

Georges JACOB (Cheny, 1739 - Paris, 1814)

Four chairs and two armchairs

C. 1777

Paris
Provenance: the comte dArtois Turkish Boudoir, Palais du Temple, Paris
Matching couch added in the early 19th century
Baronne Eva Gourgaud bequest, 1965 , 1965

OA 9986, OA 9987, OA 9988, OA 9989, OA 9990, OA 9991, OA 9992
Decorative Arts

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