Empire Dressing Table

This charming Empire-era dressing table has been beautifully restored and, above all, conserved. Its frame is made of oak and poplar, veneered with mahogany burl. The drawer sides and bottoms are solid mahogany. It rests on four column legs ending in casters and joined by an H-shaped stretcher. The frieze opens with a drawer revealing a writing surface lined with blue morocco leather, a pen case, and two compartments for inkwells, as well as two large drawers on either side for toiletries. The top is adorned with a white Carrara marble slab with a recessed indentation, surmounted by a cheval glass framed by two columns, each topped with a small, chased and gilded bronze cassolettes. The bronze mounts are original, chased and gilded with mercury. The mercury mirror is original, as is the fabric on the back of the cheval glass, which has miraculously retained its original blue silk lining. The whole piece is of very high quality and Parisian manufacture, and can easily be attributed to the Jacob brothers.

It is entirely demountable except for the legs, which are assembled with dowels; each element can be disassembled thanks to ingenious systems of screws and threaded rods. Besides its practicality for transport, the main purpose of disassembly is to make the French polishing process more practical and ensure a perfect result. This confirms that French polishing appeared at the beginning of the 19th century.

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The dismantling process allowed for the meticulous restoration of each element. Apart from a few chips and chamfers in the veneer, this piece of furniture is in very good condition. Everything is there, except for the missing interior sliding shelf.

So I restored all the veneer bells by infiltration. And the few veneer grafts were done with old veneer. This allowed me to have a perfect surface with wood that was already oxidized and of the correct thickness. The missing shelf was reproduced with pieces of mahogany salvaged from a bed panel found in an attic. It is assembled with a tongue and groove joint and a softwood base, exactly as it might have been. As a small detail, I deliberately left tool marks on the back to allow for dating this restoration.

Each element was then re-varnished with a pad, and then I glued the feet back on once the bronzes had been cleaned.

The fabric was preserved, dry-cleaned, and then ironed in its original position. Only the gold braid was replaced, as the old one was beyond repair. A new piece of blue leather, gilded with a small tool, was glued to the tablet to harmonize with the fabric on the back of the cheval glass. The bronze mounts were simply cleaned. The gilding is original.

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To see previous restorations : https://ebenisterie-mathieuvath.fr/en-ce-moment-a-latelier/

You can find this secretary at Antiques Stéphane Guin