Provenance

Part of the group of furniture and furnishings supplied between 1827 and 1829 to King George IV by the partnership of Morel and Seddon for the Bed Room at Windsor Castle. Nicholas Morel had formerly worked for The Prince of Wales, later George IV, at Carlton House and the Royal Pavilion at Brighton. Subsequently, he was commissioned to design and furnish the newly built apartments designed by Sir Jeffry Wyattville (1766-1840) for the King at Windsor Castle. In order to fulfil the contract he entered into partnership with George Seddon III whose family had large and long established furniture workshops in Aldersgate Street in the City of London. Georges Jacob was a prominent Parisian master menuisier, producing carved and painted furniture and upholstery work, becoming a Maître Ebéniste on 4 September 1765. His first business was in the Rue de Cléry from 1767 and the Rue Meslée from 1775 where he employed specialist carvers and gilders. In 1791, the Le Chapelier law removed the guild system and Jacob diversified his workshop to include cabinet-making and mounted bronzes. Having survived the Revolution with the assistance of the artist Jacques Louis David, Jacob retired in 1796. He left his workshop to his two sons, Georges II and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter who traded as Jacob Frères. After the death of Georges II in 1803 Jacob came out of retirement to work with his younger son; the firm worked on a constant supply of furnishings for the Emperor Napoleon trading as Jacob Desmalter et Cie.