Four Russian Bergeren, the original model going back to a design by Percier and Fontaine, which was executed by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter for the boudoir of Empress Josephine for the Palace of Saint-Cloud and is now in the Château de Malmaison (The design of the original armchair type is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York -see M. Deschamps, Empire, London, 1994, p. 78 and D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIX siècle: 1795-1889, Paris, 1984, p. 335).
Bergeren of a similar type were later commissioned by Caroline Murat for the Silver Salon in the Palais de l'Elysée. For Queen Hortense's bedroom in the Hôtel de Beauharnais, additional armchairs were made with a slightly later design, but with the same striking swans.
The very distinctive swan design was also imitated outside France, particularly in Russia, where the decorative arts of France were much admired by the Tsar's family and the aristocracy and were copied there in modified form by good ebenists.
Our bergeres show a similar design to the prototype in the Malmaison château, and are a less robust and playful interpretation of the original model by Percier and Fontaine, but look very similar to the original model.
The 4 mountain chairs date from the first quarter of the 19th century, around 1815, and have a straight, slightly rounded and upholstered seat back, flanked by downward curved sides in the shape of gilded swans.
The wooden frame is in its original ebonized state and is discreetly decorated with individual gilded brass stars on the inner backrest. The back legs are curved backwards like a saw and straight at the front. The mountains are covered with a yellow silk-colored fabric.
Provenance: From an old Milanese private collection
Item no.: 8038
