A Pair of Louis XVI Style Bergere Armchairs

A pair of 19th century beechwood bergere armchairs in the Louis XVI manner, the square backs with carved beading and palmettes, the arms padded and supported upon spiralling columns with acanthus leaf details and fluted plinths, terminating in turned fluted legs.

Now upholstered in Serge Antique by Claremont.

Although made in the second half of the 19th century, this type of bergere armchair can be traced back to the 1770s, the neo-classical period in art and architectural design. The carved motifs throughout are all very architectural and the overall form shows no memory or influence of the preceding Rococo style.

Neo-Classicism found its origins in Rome during the Age of Enlightenment and spread throughout Europe as students of the Grand Tour returned home from Italy laden with objects of antiquity and Greco-Roman ideals which fuelled a revolution in art, music, literature and philosophy. The design of furniture was no exception and cabinet makers in turn sought to banish the excesses of the Rococo period. This pair of chairs relates closely to designs of seating furniture by one of France’s most eminent menuisiers, Georges Jacob (1739-1814). Although Jacob had established himself prior to the classical revival of the late 1760s (he arrived in Paris in 1754 where he was apprenticed to the chair maker Jean-Baptiste Lerouge) his surviving work is most closely associated with the purity of the Louis XVI style. Such was his importance in the late 18th century, that French classical revivalist furniture of the late 19th century is almost entirely devoted to his designs and this pair of chairs is no exception. The fineness of carving, the purity of ornament and the observation of proportion have been closely studied and render these armchairs true to Jacob’s ideals.