Italian Empire armchair with
original gilding, made in Rome
for Cardinal Fesch.The fauteuil has an arched bead framed
pediment carved with an eagle with spread wings perched in a laurel wreath with
extended ribbons above a frieze carved with laurel motifs. The back is flanked
by capital headed fluted pilasters. The half-round armrests are supported by
griffins raised on acanthus bases above curved paterae
headed curved legs terminating in lion paws. The back legs are saber form. The
rails are carved with short vertical flutings. Original gilding, but the back
is not gilded. The chair is numbered “XXVII”. [Chips and wear.]
The chairs are part of a large
set of armchairs, side chairs and canapés commissioned in Rome by Napoleon’s uncle, Cardinal Fesch. They
are thought to have been designed by Lorenzo and Dionisio Santi. Armchairs from
the set were in the Demidoff Collection at San Donato and are illustrated in a
famous watercolor by Fortuné de Fournier; others were owned by William Beckford
at Fonthill. Another nearly identical armchair is at Malmaison. A
group of the armchairs is in the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio,
Corsica. Four armchairs, said to have been
bought by President Monroe are in the White House; another is in the Monroe
Library in Virginia.
Some of these chairs were probably bought in the Fesch sale held in Paris in 1816. Lucy Wood
discusses the group in Upholstered Furniture in
the Lady Lever Art Gallery published by Yale University Press.
