Provenance

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. Almost certainly supplied by Dominique Daguerre for George IV's bedroom at Carlton House in the late 1780s. Repaired and reupholstered in blue embroidered satin by Morel & Hughes, 16 June 1810. Sent with blue upholstery and a matching window-curtain to Morel & Seddon from the Pediment Stores, 2 December 1826 and delivered to Windsor Castle on 18 December 1827. The cleaning of the old brocade was done separately. It has been altered since and was reupholstered by J.G. Crace for the State Visit of Napoleon III in 1855. The ostrich plumes were replaced in 1984.