A set of twelve mahogany dining chairs signed JACOB

A SET OF TWELVE RESTORATION PERIOD DINING CHAIRS
Solid mahogany, mahogany veneer, leather
Eight chairs stamped JACOB. Stamp used by Georges-Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter between 1825 and 1847
Paris circa 1825
Three chairs with minor repairs, the leather visibly worn

This beautiful suite of twelve mahogany chairs by Georges Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter, of unusual design and fine craftsmanship, testifies to the excellence and capacity for innovation that enabled the Jacob dynasty to play a leading role in the Parisian seat industry from 1765 to 1847. Georges Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter (1799-1870), who succeeded his father François Honoré Georges, as head of the Jacob Desmalter workshops in 1825, was the grandson of Georges Jacob (1739-1814), the famous founder of this dynasty.

Our chairs are inspired in form and construction by the English hall chairs produced at the same time by Gillows of Lancaster. With a cartouche shaped carved solid mahogany backrest, adorned with a medallion in the center. In the English production, this medallion frames the owner's family coat-of-arms; in this case, it serves as a handle. The baluster-shaped front legs are characteristic of Jacob's production since the early 19th century, as are the saber-shaped back legs.

This English-inspired form illustrates the enduring influence of Anglomania in the French decorative arts since the late 18th century. As English hall chairs are themselves reminiscent of the Grand Tour, in that they were inspired by the scabelli of the Italian Renaissance, the design of our chairs is also an early manifestation of the Historicism revival that swept through the French Decorative Arts from the Romantic period onwards.