AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND TOLE PEINTE-MOUNTED MAHOGANY BEDSIDE TABLE ('SOMNO')

This ‘Somno’, richly mounted with finely chased ormolu mounts and blued tôle medallions, is after a design by the celebrated architects and ornemanistes Charles Percier and Pierre-François Léonard Fontaine. This design was first illustrated in their Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, Paris, 1801-1812, pl. XXIII, with the caption: ‘Table de nuit exécutée à Paris pour Me. M. par les frères Jacob.’
An almost identical ‘Somno’ was delivered by Jacob-Desmalter and Cie for the Palais de Fontainebleau the 14th of November 1804. This piece was inventoried in 1804 in the Emperor’s bedroom, in 1807 in the boudoir turc, in 1810 in the bedroom of the Impératrice, and is still part of the Fontainebleau collection (inv. Num. GME 6879).