Set of four armchairs by Jacob-Desmalter
These armchairs reflect the Egyptomania which seduced France and Europe towards the end of the 18thcentury, well into the beginning of the 19thcentury. General Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801), followed by the publication of the Voyage dans la Basse et Haute-Egypteby Dominique Vivant-Denon (1747-1825) brought into fashion a new decorative vocabulary, which promptly became very popular among artists. Upon his return from Egypt, Vivant-Denon commissioned an Egyptian set of furniture from Jacob-Desmalter, which included a bed, two armchairs, and a mahogany médaillerinlaid with silver decors. He intended to establish this Egyptian interior design trend in Paris. Likewise, Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre Fontaine (1762-1853) created numerous pieces of Egyptian style furniture illustrated in their Recueil de décorations intérieures published in 1801
