EXCEPTIONAL TWO-BODY LIBRARY Carved ebony and blackened wood. The lower part opens onto two doors decorated with figures of two evangelists: St. John and the eagle, St. Luke and the bull, the spandrels with winged cherubs, the false door decorated with a representation of the devil and a griffin. They are surmounted by two drawers with lion's head handles, amid foliage, and framed by jambs adorned with eagles and griffins. The upper part opens onto two glass doors, surmounted by two drawers with handles featuring female masks amid foliage. The lintel is adorned with a nude, languid woman. The mantel is framed by detached fluted half-columns with Corinthian capitals, and crowned by an exploded pediment adorned with two sphinxes framing a foliage motif. Napoleon III period. Height. 260 cm; Width. 152 cm; Depth. 56 cm. PROVENANCE. Saint-Lazare Prison, Director's Office. The Saint-Lazare women's prison was located on rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis in Paris. 2/3 of the building was demolished in 1857. From 1958 to 1964, the building was transformed. The building was modernized for women in difficulty. In 1967, the remaining NAPOLÉON III period furniture was sold to Monsieur Chomas, an antique dealer in Paris, who sold it in 1970 to Madame Monique Leroux. Leroux, along with the following items: "a table, a bench, a dressing table, an embroidery table, a sewing table, a corner cabinet with Boulle marquetry, a pedestal table, two chairs and various paintings".