A PAIR OF DIRECTOIRE MAHOGANY CURULE-FORM ARMCHAIRS

The design of these armchairs after an Antique 'folding stool' or 'tabouret à montants' was derived from the Roman consular curule. The rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the earlier part of the 18th century, led cabinetmakers to create archaeologically-inspired forms such as this form of armchair.

This curule form in particular was reinvented by the architects Charles Percier (d.1838), and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (d.1853) in their Recueil de décorations intérieures, 1801 where similar designs were published (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIX Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 283). A related mahogany version, attributed to the celebrated ébéniste Franois-Honoré-Georges Jacob Desmalter (d.1814), for whom Percier executed the design, is also illustrated by D. Ledoux-Lebard (ibid. p.283).