Bookstand

Georges-Alphonse Jacob Desmalter|Charles-Auguste Questel|Chabraux

1839 · Ebony, ebony veneer, ebonized maple, oak, maple, rosewood, snakewood, ivory, mother-of-pearl; brass hardware and mounts; lined with silk velvet not original to the piece · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The shaped aprons on the front and back of this bookstand bear the crowned initials FPO for Ferdinand Philippe, duc d'Orléans (1810—1842), oldest son of King Louis-Philippe. A noted patron of the arts with eclectic taste, the duke commissioned this striking black and white showpiece from the ébéniste Georges-Alphonse Jacob Desmalter, grandson of the celebrated eighteenth-century menuisier (joiner) Georges Jacob, in 1839. Most likely intended to display Les Offices de la Vierge, a lavish book of hours created for Ferdinand Philippe the previous year, the bookstand consists of a base, a bookcase with two openwork doors supported on baluster-shaped legs, and a sloping upper part with a book rest. A detailed mémoire by Desmalter indicates that the velvet-lined interior originally held a pillow for the missal. The top has a ratcheted mechanism that allows the central panel, embellished with marquetry of ivory, mother-of-pearl, and snakewood, to be raised. The historicizing design by Charles-Auguste Questel reflected contemporary interest in the Renaissance style. The sculptor Chabraux carved the elaborate decoration in ivory and ebonized maple. Before being sent to the Tuileries Palace, where it furnished the duke's salon d'attente, the bookstand was exhibited at the 1839 Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie in Paris.

Artist

Georges-Alphonse Jacob Desmalter|Charles-Auguste Questel|Chabraux

Date

1839

Medium

Ebony, ebony veneer, ebonized maple, oak, maple, rosewood, snakewood, ivory, mother-of-pearl; brass hardware and mounts; lined with silk velvet not original to the piece

Culture

French, Paris

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan and Rogers Fund, by exchange, 2006