A SET OF FOUR FRENCH WHITE AND BLUE-PAINTED SIDE CHAIRS

Although it is not possible to attribute these chairs to a particular menuisier, the model for the present lot, with their lyre shaped splats, is recurrent in the oeuvre of the celebrated menuisier Georges Jacob (maître in 1765).While Jacob created a range of styles featuring pierced backs, the lyre form stood out as one of his most original and progressive designs. Owing to their popularity, Jacob supplied a suite of twenty chairs for the salle à manger of Marie-Antoinette at the Hameau, Trianon (illustrated C. Baulez, Versailles, deux Siècles d'histoire de l'art, Paris, 2007, pp.233-4). The versatility of this model can be seen in the various versions executed by Jacob and illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè siècle, Paris, 1989, p.425.