233 - SMALL, FLAT DESK SERVING AS A VANITY AND SEWING TABLE, with an undulating shape from the Louis-Philippe period; all sides in blackened wood with Boulle marquetry of brass, pewter, and stained tortoiseshell, decorated with feminine mascarons, rosettes with foliage motifs, floral scrolls, and butterflies

SMALL, FLAT DESK SERVING AS A VANITY AND SEWING TABLE, with an undulating shape from the Louis-Philippe period; all sides in blackened wood with Boulle marquetry of brass, pewter, and stained tortoiseshell, decorated with feminine mascarons, rosettes with foliage motifs, floral scrolls, and butterflies The dark top is covered in red leather and inlaid with a dark mother-of-pearl monogram on the reverse side of a mirror framed by a gilded bronze frieze with foliage motifs andquadrifoliate spandrels on a blue background, revealing an interior of rosewood veneer with compartments, two of which are closed by shutters lined with pink velvet on the reverse, forming a writing surface and a pin holder A belt-style drawer with multiple compartments, one of which features a sliding writing surface Arched legs Gilded bronze ornamentation, including ribboned laurel moldings and faun mascarons in three designs The underside of the top is inlaid with a copper plaque engraved with the inscription: “Souvenir offered on January 17, 1843, in memory of the kindness shown on July 15, 1841” 77 x 98.5 x 59.5 cm (numerous chips and missing pieces) Provenance | Collection of Henri Dupuy de Lôme for his estate in the Var, then passed down through the family Biography | Stanislas Henri Laurent Dupuy de Lôme French naval engineer (Ploemeur 1816–Paris 1885). He built the first steamship, the *Napoléon* (1850), and the first armored frigate, the *Gloire* (1858), which served as a model for the navy of the Second Empire. Member of the Council of State and deputy for Morbihan. In 1870, he managed to get sixty airships out of besieged Paris. He had been a member of the Academy of Sciences since 1866.