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.

Dechado cuadrado de tafetán de lino (lienzo) color crudo cuyos bordes rematan en dobladillo. En los cuatro ángulos tiene un ojete de hilo. Conserva dos borlas de hilo de seda en los ángulos derechos. Decoración: geométrica, zoomorfa, epigráfica y figurada (simbólica cristiana), realizada con bordado a la aguja `a por cuenta` a punto de pasado, punto de cruz y sus derivados, pespunte, cuadradillo, presilla, vainica e incrustación, con hilos de seda de colores verdes, azules, crudos, tostados, amarillos, grises y rosas. El esquema son 5 calles en cada lado, todas con motivos diferentes: rombos, triángulos, barras, etc... En el centro representación simbólica con el tema de la Pasión y cristianos, alrededor gran corazón con el anagrama IHS, barco, gallo, llave, parrilla, martillo, tenazas, escalera, hostiario, corazón, león penachado, lámpara, copón, cordero, estrellas, claveles, pino, pájara, etc... También 14 ojetes de hilo de diferentes colores.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752–1834) invented the Jacquard mechanism, a patterning device than, when attached to a loom, made it practical to weave more detailed designs than were previously possible. This woven silk portrait of the inventor is based on a painting by Claude Bonnefond (1796–1860) that was commissioned by the city of Lyon in 1831. The Lyon manufacturer Didier, Petit et Cie ordered the silk version from weaver Michel-Marie Carquillat, who became a specialist in this kind of work. The Museum owns another woven picture after a painting by Bonnefond, showing the duc d'Aumale (son of the French king Louis-Philippe) visiting Carquillat's atelier.The silk picture convincingly portrays elements such as a translucent curtain over glass window panes. Only after the Jacquard loom came into use could a work of this extreme level of detail be produced–a contemporary journal reported that one Lyonnais printer actually mistook a woven portrait.

Across the top are the words "viva Gesu" flanking a cross with the sacred monogram "IHS". Beneath this are alphabets and numbers in horizontal rows. The field bears floral and architectural motives, a bird on a branch and a central garland with the intitials "M S". Bordered all around by a simple continuous vine motif. Worked in cross stitch.  Slightly soiled; stained.  Stitches: cross, eyelet.

1839

1839

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