This armchair was part of a set of seat furniture made for the French hero, Maréchal Ney (1769-1815). Ney was one of the Emperor Napoleon’s military leaders, and he came to be known in France as ‘the bravest of the brave’. In 1805, after his marriage, Napoleon helped him to buy a house in Paris, the Hôtel de Saisseval. Ney furnished it lavishly in the fashionable Empire style. He used many of the firms who worked in the imperial palaces. The firm of Jacob-Desmalter, which made these chairs, was the best-known supplier of luxury furniture. They made the chairs for the Petit Salon and upholstered them in brocaded blue silk. In 1815 Ney was executed by the allies who had defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.