Desk Masterpieces Reproductions

Napoleon Empire style ormolu-mounted veneer inlaid and set-with marble grand partner desk on the manner of Jacob-Desmalter
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Ref#D-E480 | #D-E97 Description

A supreme Napoleon Empire style ormolu-mounted veneer inlaid and set-with marble grand partner desk on the manner of Jacob-Desmalter(ca.1770–1841)

The ergonomic geometrical shaped top inset with three sectional gilt-tooled leather framed with ormolu Egg-and-Dart style border above a shaped frieze with three different size drawers ornamented with Empire Neoclassical ormolu mounts,

The central recessed large drawer has two lyre shaped ormolu handles and centered with fine chiseled ormolu woman face keyhole escutcheons within an ormolu rhombus frame flanked with palmettes and all within pearls ormolu border. The two smaller drawers are with ormolu lyre shaped handles and ormolu scroll mounts decorations.

Each angle of the desk decorated with a fine cast Harp/Lyre ormolu mount above a fine marble support headed with exquisite typical Empire style ormolu female bust and terminating with ormolu palmette leaves,

The lower part of the desk has two cupboard doors with one shelf inside. The doors and the sides garnished with Empire Neoclassical ormolu mounts and figures. The back has the same ormolu decorations of the front. The desk is raised on a shaped plinth on eight bun feet.

The desk as displayed is offered in different style of veneer finishing like elm to imitate the Biedermeier style, palisander, mahogany veneers, different rich marble types supports and variety of leather top types.

Ref#D-E480 | #D-E97

180-80-90cm

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François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter

François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter ran one of the most important and prosperous furniture workshops in Paris at the beginning of the 1800s. The son of a well-known chairmaker, Georges Jacob, Jacob-Desmalter took over his father's business with his older brother in 1796. Worked in the Louis XVI style and Directoire styles of the earlier phase of Neoclassicism and executed many royal commissions.

When his brother died six years later, Jacob-Desmalter hired his father back as his partner and began to develop one of the largest furniture workshops in Paris. By 1808 he employed 332 workmen to produce pieces worth over 700,000 francs per year. A third of this stock was destined for export; his warehouse alone held over 500,000 francs' worth of furniture.

Furniture produced by the firm of Jacob-Desmalter et Cie (Co.) was mainly made from mahogany in the Empire style, where geometric shapes and straight lines prevailed. The clients included Pauline Borghese, Napoleon I's sister, and the Empress Josephine, for whom he supplied numerous pieces for the imperial residences. One particularly important commission was a magnificent cradle built for the infant Napoleon II, king of Rome.

Greatly dependent on orders from Napoleon's household, the business went bankrupt in 1813, when the Emperor fell from power. Jacob-Desmalter, however, managed to resurrect the company and continued to run it until his son, Alphonse-George, succeeded him in 1825.

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