THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT by Jacob Desmalter, with rectangular Bardiglio marble top above a panelled frieze mounted with a central rosette flanked by lotus-leaf sprays, the hinged fall-front mounted with a figure of Diana and her Hound within a laurel-bound border and enclosing a satin-birch interior with part green leather-lined writing-surface, five satin-birch lined drawers and a well, flanked by engaged columns with stiff-leaf capitals and panelled sides, the base section with a mahogany-lined frieze drawer mounted with a ribbon-tied oak-wreath flanked by anthemions, on turned tapering stiff-leaf-headed supports above an inverted breakfront rectangular undertier and on turned bun feet, stamped JACOB. D. R. MESLEE, the top repaired

Details
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT by Jacob Desmalter, with rectangular Bardiglio marble top above a panelled frieze mounted with a central rosette flanked by lotus-leaf sprays, the hinged fall-front mounted with a figure of Diana and her Hound within a laurel-bound border and enclosing a satin-birch interior with part green leather-lined writing-surface, five satin-birch lined drawers and a well, flanked by engaged columns with stiff-leaf capitals and panelled sides, the base section with a mahogany-lined frieze drawer mounted with a ribbon-tied oak-wreath flanked by anthemions, on turned tapering stiff-leaf-headed supports above an inverted breakfront rectangular undertier and on turned bun feet, stamped JACOB. D. R. MESLEE, the top repaired
28½in. (72.5cm.) wide; 52½in. (133.5cm.) high; 16in. (41cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The stamp Jacob D. Rue Meslée was used by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob, dit Jacob-Desmalter between 1803-1815, in collaboration with his father Georges Jacob (maître in 1765).

This secrétaire reveals the close relationship between Jacob-Desmalter and the architects Percier and Fontaine, who published their influential Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, Paris, in 1801.

A bureau à cylindre by Jacob-Frères with tapering legs related to the tapering columns of the lower section of this secrétaire à abattant and formerly in the Ruspoli Talleyrand Collection is illustrated in A. González-Palacios, 'Le Vendite Demidoff e Ruspoli Talleyrand', Arte Illustrata, 17/18 1969, p. 126 and 130, fig. 21 and 31, while a side cabinet by Jacob-Frères with related ormolu figures, from the same collection, is illustrated on p. 127, fig. 25

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