EMPIRE PERIOD SOFA, ROME, CIRCA 1806 After a design by Lorenzo and Dionisio Santi In carved and gilded wood, the curved back decorated in the centre with an eagle with outstretched wings encircled by a laurel wreath, the fluted pilaster uprights surmounted by capitals decorated with water leaves, the armrest supports decorated with griffins, the fluted belt, resting on claw feet at the front and sabre feet at the back, upholstered in cream cotton, printed label on the back inscribed "C.S.BONIF/148" on the back; minor damage and missing gilding, traces of worm damage. H. 110 cm (43 ¼ in.) l. 187 cm (73 ½ in.) Provenance: Very probably part of the suite delivered for Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839) at the Palazzo del Bufalo, Rome ; Most probably transferred in 1815 to the Hôtel Hocquart de Montfermeil, Paris; Very probably sold in Paris on 17 June 1816; Very probably former collection of Prince Anatole Demidoff (1813-1870), Florence; Very probably Prince Paul Demidoff (1839-1885), his nephew; Very probably sold in Florence, collections of the San Donato palace, 15 March 1880 onwards; Acquired in the 1920s from an antique dealer by the grandparents of the present owners; European aristocratic collection. An Empire giltwood sofa, after a design by Dionisio and Lorenzo Santi, Rome, circa 1806