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An Empire style gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and giltwood armchair, late 19th century

UK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Auction Closed

September 8, 06:42 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

An Empire style gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and giltwood armchair, late 19th century

with a curved back, mounted in the round with gilt-bronze classical emblems, and supported by carved giltwood winged lion arm supports, the headrest, armrests and seat upholstered with a striped red and cream cut-velvet cover with corresponding passementerie

Sotheby's London, 7 June 1991, lot 116 and acquired by Freddie for his apartment on Rue de Bon-Port, Montreux.

This armchair adopts several characteristics of the Empire period such as the curved back, arm supports in the shape of winged lions and foliate gilt-bronze mounts. This design vocabulary was especially pioneered in the early 19th century by the Jacobs cabinetmakers. For a 'fauteuil de bureau' (desk chair) from the early 19th century, see an example in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 07.225.53). For comparable Empire style examples, see one armchair offered at Sotheby's, New York, 14-15th April 2008, lot 284 and another sold Sotheby's, New York, 11th October 2012, lot 174.