An Empire gilt-bronze mounted yew burl and mahogany veneered à cassolette table, circa 1810, by Jacob Frères

Former collection of Joseph Adolphe comte de Clary (1837-1877) at his hôtel particulier located 6 rue Roquépine in Paris;

Then by descent until the sale Coutau-Bégarie, Paris, 28 November 2012, lot 365.

Related literature :

Percier et Fontaine, Recueil de Décoration Intérieure, 1812.

J-P. Samoyault et C. Samoyault-Verlet, cat. Expo. Le mobilier du général Moreau, Paris, 1992.

Not only offering a perfect illustration of the Empire style and the tastes in vogue at that time, the delivery of this gueridon can also be precisely dated, given its similarities with a model in plate 23 of Percier and Fontaine's Recueil de Décoration Intérieure (published in 1812) and its label for Jacob Frères/ Rue Meslée, bearing a handwritten inscription dated 1811.

It would appear that the very first examples of this refined gueridon were made for General Moreau's wife. The general, who at the height of his glory in 1801-1802 had his Parisian apartments on Rue d'Anjou designed by the most prominent architects of the time, Percier and Fontaine, did not have the opportunity to enjoy them for very long. Exiled to the United States after Moreau's conviction, his mansion on Rue d'Anjou passed to Marshal Bernadotte and his Château de Groisbois to Marshal Berthier, Minister of War. As Barras pointed out in his Memoirs: « Moreau à son retour de Hohenliden, ayant voulu commencer à jouir de ce que les Anglais appellent le confort, s’était fait faire un meuble complet du meilleur goût et d’une élégance tout à fait nouvelle par le premier ébéniste du temps, le célèbre Jacob. Ce meuble avait été un sujet d’admiration pour toutes les personnes que le général avait invitées à venir le voir dans sa retraite… » (‘On his return from Hohenliden, Moreau, wishing to begin enjoying what the English call comfort, had a complete set of furniture made in the best taste and with a completely new elegance by the leading ébéniste of the time, the famous Jacob. This furniture had been a subject of admiration for all those whom the general had invited to visit him in his retirement...’). Much of this furniture was transferred in November 1804 to the Château de Fontainebleau, which had formerly been emptied of its contents during the Revolution to accommodate Pope Pius VII, and subsequently largely preserved Moreau's furnishings, including a similar gueridon called a "table de travail à cassolette" (inv. F 5 C) also bearing the same Jacob Frères label as the present.

Plate 23 in Recueil de Décoration Intérieure published a few years later depicts a design very similar to the present table, with the caption "Petite table de travail renfermant une cassolette, exécutée pour Mme M. à Paris" (‘Small work table containing a cassolette, made for Mme M. in Paris’) leaving little doubt as to the identity of the client.

This elegant and ingenious piece of furniture is characteristic of Percier and Fontaine's taste for furniture inspired by antiquity. The incorporation of gilt-bronze mounts that are no longer purely decorative reflects a desire to highlight archaeological references linked to discoveries made in the second half of the 18th century. Indeed, the ‘antique’ composition of this gueridon, or 'table de travail avec cassolette', draws its inspiration more or less directly from certain models of ancient tripods discovered during archaeological excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum, particularly the tripod known as ‘from the Villa Julia Felix’ kept at the Archaeological Museum of Naples (illustrated in S. De Caro, Le musée archéologique de Naples, p.221).

Jacob Frères (1796-1803)

Jacob frères stands for the partnership between Georges II Jacob (1768–1803) and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob (1770–1841), the two sons of the famous chair maker Georges Jacob (1739–1814). Over the course of several years, the two brothers worked tirelessly to develop the family workshop on Rue Meslée and sought to create new models of chairs and furniture. This ambition marked a turning point in the history of furniture with the design of pieces featuring metal supports or structures, which Jacob Frères went on to develop, such as the gueridon with four legs topped with an eagle with outstretched wings (sold at Replica Shoes 's, London, 9 June 2004, lot 126) and its counterpart at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. This constant renewal and the quality of their work enabled them to meet the demands of their private clientele and the Garde-meuble, notably by participating in most of the major furnishing campaigns aimed at refurnishing the former royal palaces and châteaux.

In 1803, after the death of his eldest son, Georges Jacob Sr. resumed an active role in the workshop alongside his second son; this new partnership gave rise to furniture and chairs stamped or marked ‘Jacob Desmalter/Rue Meslée’.

A model designed for the wife of an Imperial general and executed for Napoleon's collection at Saint-Cloud

The present gueridon appears in the second half of the 19th century in the posthumous inventory of Count Clary, aide-de-camp to Napoleon III, former squadron leader and Knight of the Legion of Honour, and was then kept by his descendants until its sale in 2012. It is briefly described in the inventory of furniture in his Parisian residence, located at 6 Rue Roquépine, drawn up in November 1877: « Dans le Salon éclairé par trois fenêtres sur les rues de Roquépine et d’Astorg » « n°39. Un guéridon a trépied en racine et bronze doré...180 francs » (‘In the living room lit by three windows overlooking Rue Roquépine and Rue d'Astorg’ ‘No. 39. A pedestal table with a tripod base and gilt bronze...180 francs’)

(National Archives, Minutier Central, Etude LV/503).

To date, a few other rare similar examples are known, some with slight variations in the treatment of the openwork gallery of the stretcher and its material, as well as the woods used for the veneers or varieties of marble. These include:

-one pair was formerly in the collection of the Marquis de Biron (sold in Paris, 9 June 1914, lot 382), 

-another pair appeared in the Ader Picard Tajan sale on 26 March 1974 and seems to correspond to the one sold in Paris in 1995 (Couturier auction house, 13 November 1995, lot 117); 

-another pair, with the mark for the Tuileries Palace during the Restoration, sold at Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, lot 95; 

-a gueridon was offered at the dispersal of the Baron de Redé collection, Replica Shoes 's, Monaco, 25-26 May 1975, lot 263; 

-one gueridon is kept at the Carnegie Museum of Art (inv. 75.29.2) in Pittsburgh; 

-another was sold at Christie's, Paris, 24 June 2002, lot 223.

Finally, there is the example that was most likely delivered by Jacob Frères to Madame Moreau in 1802, subsequently at Fontainebleau in 1804, then recorded in 1805 in the Emperor's bedroom at the Palace of Saint-Cloud in 1805 and now kept at the National Museum of the Château de Fontainebleau (reproduced in J-P. Samoyault, Mobilier français Consulat et Empire, Paris, 2009, p.128, fig. 218).