AFTER A MODEL BY FRANÇOIS-HONORÉ-GEORGES JACOB-DESMALTER

Details

A LOUIS-PHILIPPE GILTWOOD AND GILT COMPOSITION LIT DE REPOS
After a model by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter
The outwardly curved headboard covered in red velvet and flanked by two open-winged swans on foliate cornucopia supports ending in hoof-feet, the side-boards decorated with flower-filled scrolling acanthus and flower garlands, the foot-end with conforming cornucopia supports overflowing with fruits and flowers, the headboard, bolster and bedspread covered in dark-red velvet, with four bolts, boxspring and mattress, re-gilt
50 in. (127 cm.) high; 95 in. (241 cm.) long; 51 in. (129 cm.) wide

Provenance

Christie's, London, 30 October 1997, lot 357 (£16,000).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This bed is identical in shape to the one supplied to the Empress Joséphine by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter for Malmaison in 1810 (L. de Groër, Les Arts Décoratifs de 1790 à 1850, Fribourg, 1985, p. 84, fig. 137). An inventory taken upon the death of Joséphine of the contents of Malmaison lists in 1814 as item 486:

...une couchette en bois sculpté et doré, avec son estrade, couverte en drap rouge, garnie de trois matelas de laine couverts de futaine blanche...

This bed was moved to Bavaria by her son, prince Eugène. Prince Nicolas of Leuchtenberg, grandson of Eugène, gave it to Napoleon III when he visited Malmaison in 1867. (S. Grandjean, Inventaire après Décès de l'Impératrice Joséphine a Malmaison, Paris, 1964, pp. 99 and 100)

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