Oliver Cornish
Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
Lot 88*,TP
An Italian 'Empire' giltwood and gilt gesso suite of salon seat furniture comprised of a sofa, a pair of bergeres and a pair of side chairs 1810-1825, of Tuscan origin (possibly made in Lucca), currently all pieces within this lot are without upholstery
3 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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Thomas Moore
Head of Department
An Italian 'Empire' giltwood and gilt gesso suite of salon seat furniture comprised of a sofa, a pair of bergeres and a pair of side chairs
1810-1825, of Tuscan origin (possibly made in Lucca), currently all pieces within this lot are without upholstery
Each with reeded frames and a square or rectangular back surmounted by a triangular pediment, the triangular panel carved with a central Bacchus mask wearing a headdress of vine leaves and grapes issuing a vine branch trail interspersed with bunches of grapes to each side, the reverse of the pediments on the bergeres with conforming carved details, the sofa and bergeres each with stiff-leaf, acanthus and foliate wrapped and rosette roundel clasped padded arms, each arm terminal modelled as a seated faun figure with an acanthus carved lower body, terminating in tapering square section legs with lion paw front feet, on splayed rear legs, the rear central leg of the sofa replaced or a later addition, original screw holes visible to the side sections of the rails, old paper labels to the underside are variously inscribed: '75', '79', '81', '113', '114' and '116', each side chair: 48.5cm wide x 49cm deep x 93cm high; each bergere: 65cm wide x 64cm deep x 104cm high; the sofa: 195cm wide x 69cm deep x 105.5cm high, (76 1/2in wide x 27in deep x 41 1/2in high) (5)
Each with reeded frames and a square or rectangular back surmounted by a triangular pediment, the triangular panel carved with a central Bacchus mask wearing a headdress of vine leaves and grapes issuing a vine branch trail interspersed with bunches of grapes to each side, the reverse of the pediments on the bergeres with conforming carved details, the sofa and bergeres each with stiff-leaf, acanthus and foliate wrapped and rosette roundel clasped padded arms, each arm terminal modelled as a seated faun figure with an acanthus carved lower body, terminating in tapering square section legs with lion paw front feet, on splayed rear legs, the rear central leg of the sofa replaced or a later addition, original screw holes visible to the side sections of the rails, old paper labels to the underside are variously inscribed: '75', '79', '81', '113', '114' and '116', each side chair: 48.5cm wide x 49cm deep x 93cm high; each bergere: 65cm wide x 64cm deep x 104cm high; the sofa: 195cm wide x 69cm deep x 105.5cm high, (76 1/2in wide x 27in deep x 41 1/2in high) (5)
Footnotes
Provenance
The offered lot was purchased by the current owner and vendor, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, Munich, 4 July 2018, lot 23.
With Napoleon's empire extending beyond France to encompass the newly-established Kingdom of Italy in 1805, elegant grand residences throughout the peninsula adopted the robust and magnificent Napoleonic 'Empire style', referred to in Italian as the stile Impero.
From 1805 to 1814, the Principality of Lucca and Piombino, the area from which these chairs most probably originate, was administered as a satellite state of the French Empire under the governance of Napoleon's sister, Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte.
A perceptive and proactive leader; Elisa displayed a keen interest in artistic endeavours, not only as a patron for art works to lavish her court, but also by establishing civic institutions such as a new Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Following from this new French ruler, one who was deeply invested in the arts, was a fresh decorative language infused with Napoleonic strength – the Empire's interpretation of Classical principles was more archaeologically inspired, emphasising sabre legs, x-frame designs and anthemion motifs, often blending Greek styles with Egyptian elements to mirror the expansion of Napoleon's dominions.
In France and Italy, the Empire style produced a sense of monumentality and yet the present suite has festive and joyful elements that are distinctive with few precedents. Several of its decorative motifs are typical of the style, such as the use of figural arm terminals on the armchairs, here in the form of acanthus wrapped fauns. Although the presence of fauns is unusual, a comparable example with these can found in M. Jarry, Le Siège Français, Louis XIII-Napoleon III, p.61, pl.22.
The most notable feature on the present suite is the bacchic element to the chairs. Their beautiful festive pediments appear carved with central Bacchus masks and resplendent vines whilst particularly rare is their presence on the back of the armchairs.
This suite of sophisticated seat furniture is closely related to the Empire furniture supplied to the Royal court and artistocratic residences in and around Florence and Lucca, particularly that executed by the chair maker (or menuisier), Paolo Sani. Sani is known to have supplied similar seat furniture to the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. (see E. Colle, Il Mobile Impero in Italia 1998, Milano, p. 171, no.53), whilst other related chairs are illustrated and described in : E.Colle, I Mobili di Palazzo Pitti: Il secondo Periodo Lorense, 1800-1846, Florence, Palazzo Pitti, 2000, p.265, n.178.