AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY SIDE CABINET

This majestic cabinet, with its rich mixture of Egyptian and Classical iconography, refelcts the à l'antique style promoted by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their Recueil des décorations Intérieures, the first installment of which was published in 1801. Side cabinets featuring many similar motifs are illustrated op. cit., plate 40. Although not stamped it is likely to have been made by the firm of Jacob Desmalter, the partnership of Georges Jacob and his son François-Honoré-Georges Desmalter, who were among Napoleon's favorite cabinet-makers and executed many pieces after Percier and Fontaine's designs.