An extremely fine Louis XVI carved giltwood bergère à la Reine by Georges Jacob and stamped G + IACOB, the rounded padded back and sides, padded arm rests, seat and cushion covered in a floral patterned damask, with a finely carved channelled frame and arm rests with scrolled terminals above shaped channelled supports above squared fluted pilasters above paterae and a slightly curved channelled apron, on tapering fluted legs

Paris, date circa 1770-75
Height 110 cm, width 71 cm, depth 68 cm.

This extremely fine bergère by Georges Jacob (1739-1814) is not only of superb quality, but is of interesting design since it incorporates many elements of the Louis XVI, with the scrolled arm terminals, fluted pilasters, paterae and tapering fluted legs yet at the same time retains an overtly rounded back and curved top rail that was typical of the earlier Louis XV style. Georges Jacob, considered one of the most notable eighteenth century menuisiers and the finest during Louis XVI's reign, produced a number of Louis XVI chairs that as here included elements from the earlier Louis XV style. Pierre Kjellberg, in "Le Mobilier Français de XVIIIe Siècle", 1989, pp. 412-3, illustrates four fauteuils by Jacob, which as here all have rounded backs in conjunction with overtly scrolled arm terminals and paterae heading fluted tapering or scrolled legs.

Jacob served an apprenticeship under Louis Delanois (1731-92), a successful menuisier who held fast to the Rococo Louis XV style even when the vogue for the goût grec, (a style that pervaded during the late 1760's and early 1770's) was at its height. Accepted as a maître ébéniste in 1765, Jacob's earliest chairs were predominantly in the Louis XV style. However he soon adopted the more fashionable Louis XVI style, creating seats with simple outlines and straight legs and deriving motifs for carved ornaments from antique architecture.

Quickly establishing repute, from 1773 Jacob received numerous commissions from the Crown and in 1781 was appointed ébéniste-ordinaire to Monsieur, the comte de Provence (later King Louis XVIII). From 1784 he became one of the Fournisseurs des Menus-Plains and was among a small number of non-Germanic cabinet-makers to be favoured by Queen Marie Antoinette. Such was Jacob's interest in antiquity that in 1788 he made a suite of mahogany chairs designed by the Neo-classical painter Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) and his pupil Moreau, which along with another set, again designed by David for the son of Philippe Egalité, were probably the first pieces of useful household furniture made in direct imitation of Greek and Roman prototypes.

Jacob's skill in making carved furniture was outstanding while his innovative genius enabled him to produce a wide range of differing chair designs. It is therefore of no surprise that his work can be found among the world's finest collections including the Wallace Collection and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Windsor Castle, the Musées du Louvre and des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Châteaux de Versailles and Fontainebleau as well as the Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Jacob founded a great dynasty of furniture makers, specialising in the production of chairs and other fine furniture. He worked under his own name from 1765-96 at which point he retired and sold his business to his two sons, Georges II (1768-1803) and François-Honoré-Georges (1770-1841). They continued it under the name of Jacob Frères until the death of the elder son in 1803. The younger, who took the name of Jacob-Desmalter, then joined with his father under the name of Jacob-Desmalter et Cie. The firm remained within the family until it was sold in 1847.