Solid mahogany and burr ash veneered daybed, with a scrolled - Lot 102

Solid mahogany and burr ash veneered daybed, with a scrolled right-hand back decorated with patinated bronze foliage scrolls, the belt with palmettes and culottes framing a lion's head inscribed in a lozenge and masks from the Comédie Antique, resting on antique-style spool feet; (accidents, restorations and missing parts). Restoration period, circa 1820-1825. H. 105 cm, W. 198 cm, D. 89 cm A chest of drawers and a pair of chairs attributed to cabinetmaker Joseph Marie Bénard, from Madame Talma's apartment, are now in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Provenance : François Joseph Talma (1763-1826) Bibliographical reference : F. Thiollet and H. Roux, Nouveau recueil de menuiserie et de décorations intérieures et extérieures comme intérieurs d'appartements, salle de bal et de concerts (...), Paris, 1837, pl. 15, p. 52. Talma's fame in Paris could hardly have been greater when he triumphed at the Théâtre Français in 1821 in the role of Sylla. On this occasion, Achille Devéria painted his portrait, dressed in antique style and evoking the features of his friend of twenty years, the recently deceased Emperor Napoleon. The great actor was well aware of his role when, shortly before his death, he wrote his Mémoire sur Lekain, in which he summed up his conception of theater. He was also fully aware of his image when he commissioned Henri François Riesener (1767-1828) to paint his portrait. He was also a great actor when he commissioned the furniture for his private mansion, completed by Paul Lelong (1799-1846), and decided to decorate his bed with masks from the Comédie antique. François Joseph Talma's after-death inventory, drawn up on November 9, 1826, mentions "an antique-shaped bunk, made of ash root and amaranth wood, trimmed with bronze, valued at two hundred francs" (AN, MC, RS-1274). The definitive identification of the origin of this bed is given by the engraved collection of Parisian interiors published by F. Thiollet and H. Roux entitled Nouveau recueil de menuiserie et de décorations intérieures, (op. cit., see illustration).