A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU AND LACQUER-MOUNTED MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTES

The marchand-éditeur L'Escalier de Cristal was established at the Palais Royal, nos. 162-3, by Marie-Jeanne-Rosalie Charpentier, the widow of Desarnaud, during the Restauration. The firm was acquired in 1847 by Lahoche et Boin, and by the end of the 19th Century, under the ownership of Pannier Frères (1890-1923) it expanded further, specialising in copies of Louis XVI ébénisterie.
By the Second Empire the firm was an icon of le goût parisien, renowned for supplying objets de luxe: especially with an oriental flavour. These console tables of Louis XVI style are embellished with Japanese gilt-lacquer panels reminiscent of the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre, who commissioned ébénistes such as Adam Weisweiler and Martin Carlin to make lacquer mounted furniture for the court of Louis XVI. These consoles are superb examples of the Louis XVI revival of circa 1860, when the style was made fashionable again by Empress Eugénie's fascination with all things connected to Queen Marie-Antoinette.