THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
EMPRESS MARIE-LOUISE'S GUERIDON FROM THE TUILERIES
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND MAHOGANY GUERIDON
Details
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND MAHOGANY GUERIDON
CIRCA 1810, STAMPED JACOB D.R. MESLEE
With circular pietra dura top centrally inlaid with a patera of specimen marbles including verde antico, Siena and rosso antico, within a grey and white veined ground with beaded banding above a lotus-cast tripartite columnar supports joined by a canted incurved plinth on similarly cast volutes and stepped square feet and casters- 27½in. (70cm.) high, 25½in. (65cm.) diameter
This stamp was used by Georges and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob- Desmalter between 1803-1813.
CIRCA 1810, STAMPED JACOB D.R. MESLEE
With circular pietra dura top centrally inlaid with a patera of specimen marbles including verde antico, Siena and rosso antico, within a grey and white veined ground with beaded banding above a lotus-cast tripartite columnar supports joined by a canted incurved plinth on similarly cast volutes and stepped square feet and casters- 27½in. (70cm.) high, 25½in. (65cm.) diameter
This stamp was used by Georges and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob- Desmalter between 1803-1813.
Provenance
Empress Marie-Louise, Salon Doré, Grands Appartments de l'Impératrice, Palais des Tuileries
Literature
H. Lefuel, François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, 1925, pp. 168, 427
This unusual gueridon with its top that imitates Florentine pietra dura, was part of a large commission from Napoleon to Jacob-Desmalter to refurnish the Imperial apartments in the Tuileries for his new Empress, Marie-Louise. The piece was destined for the 'Salon Doré' of Marie-Louise's private apartments and is described in Jacob-Desmalter's bill (mémoire inédite) of June 20, 1810 as
Un guéridon de 26 pouces de diamètre; dessus en marble blanc, incrusté de rosaces et pois en marble jaune-antique au pourtour et d'une grande rosace au milieu; colonne bronzée par le haut et, le bas, à feuilles ciselées et dorées; socle triangulaire en acajou ronceux; griffes de lion en bronze doré; avec roulettes en cuivre (Arch. Nat. 0 517).
The adjacent 'Salon des Graces' also contained a similar, slightly larger gueridon with a plain white marble top. As the principal ébenistes to the Garde-Meuble Impérial, Jacob-Desmalter supplied an enormous amount of furniture for the Tuileries between 1804 and 1813. Lefuel (op.cit., p. 120) lists, among others, 112 beds, 220 chaises, 27 fauteuils, but only 7 guéridons, indicating that a piece such as this one was relatively rare. Jacob-Desmalter charged 1000 francs for it, although the account was eventually settled at 880 francs (ibid, p. 427).
The conception is very much 'à l'Antique' and possibly derives from a drawing by Percier and Fontaine who prepared many of the designs for Jacob-Desmalter. The tripartite base with columns is similar to other Imperial commissions by Jacob-Desmalter, notably a center table now in the Grand Trianon and illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon, Meubles et objets d'art, vol. I, 1975, pp. 147-148.
This unusual gueridon with its top that imitates Florentine pietra dura, was part of a large commission from Napoleon to Jacob-Desmalter to refurnish the Imperial apartments in the Tuileries for his new Empress, Marie-Louise. The piece was destined for the 'Salon Doré' of Marie-Louise's private apartments and is described in Jacob-Desmalter's bill (mémoire inédite) of June 20, 1810 as
Un guéridon de 26 pouces de diamètre; dessus en marble blanc, incrusté de rosaces et pois en marble jaune-antique au pourtour et d'une grande rosace au milieu; colonne bronzée par le haut et, le bas, à feuilles ciselées et dorées; socle triangulaire en acajou ronceux; griffes de lion en bronze doré; avec roulettes en cuivre (Arch. Nat. 0 517).
The adjacent 'Salon des Graces' also contained a similar, slightly larger gueridon with a plain white marble top. As the principal ébenistes to the Garde-Meuble Impérial, Jacob-Desmalter supplied an enormous amount of furniture for the Tuileries between 1804 and 1813. Lefuel (op.cit., p. 120) lists, among others, 112 beds, 220 chaises, 27 fauteuils, but only 7 guéridons, indicating that a piece such as this one was relatively rare. Jacob-Desmalter charged 1000 francs for it, although the account was eventually settled at 880 francs (ibid, p. 427).
The conception is very much 'à l'Antique' and possibly derives from a drawing by Percier and Fontaine who prepared many of the designs for Jacob-Desmalter. The tripartite base with columns is similar to other Imperial commissions by Jacob-Desmalter, notably a center table now in the Grand Trianon and illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon, Meubles et objets d'art, vol. I, 1975, pp. 147-148.