Description de la toilette présentée à Sa Majesté l'Impératrice-reine, et du berceau offert à S. M. le Roi de Rome, par M. le conseiller d'État comte Frochot, préfet du département de la Seine, et par le Corps municipal, au nom de la Ville de Paris. Composés par Prudhon, exécutés sur ses dessins par MM. Thomire et Odiot, modelés par Roguet

First edition of this remarkable collection illustrated with five finely engraved outline plates by Adrien-Louis-Marie Cavelier and Pierron after designs by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (cf. Collection Émile Brouwet, II, 168).

Large quarto (27.8 × 40.5 cm). Two pages of text and five engraved plates.

Mid-nineteenth-century half black goatskin, smooth spine decorated in gilt and blind, gilt lettering running vertically along the spine, original upper wrapper preserved and lettered, joints and spine ends lightly rubbed, corners worn, early shelf labels on the upper board and rear pastedown, bookplate on the rear pastedown. Some scattered foxing.

The first three plates depict the various elements of the magnificent dressing-table service in silver-gilt with lapis-lazuli inlay presented to Empress Marie-Louise on 15 August 1810: the fire screen, dressing table, mirror, and detailed views. The ensemble was jointly executed by Pierre-Philippe Thomire, the foremost bronzier-ciseleur of the Empire, and the celebrated goldsmith Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot after designs by Prud'hon. Much of this sumptuous commission was later melted down on the orders of Marie-Louise, Duchess of Parma, making these engravings an invaluable visual record of a masterpiece that has largely disappeared.

The final two plates illustrate the celebrated cradle of the King of Rome, fashioned in silver-gilt, mother-of-pearl and burgau shell by Odiot and Thomire, with sculptural figures modelled by Henri-Victor Roguier - whose name is mistakenly printed here as "Roguet". Presented by the City of Paris on 5 March 1811, only weeks before the birth of the imperial heir, the cradle is now preserved in Vienna. A second version, attributed to Thomire and executed in burr elm with gilt bronze, survives at the Château de Fontainebleau.

Provenance: from the library of Prince Demidoff at San Donato, as evidenced by its ownership stamp, and subsequently from the library of Prince Roland Bonaparte, whose bookplate and shelf label remain in the volume.

Commissioned by Nicolas Frochot, Prefect of the Seine, on behalf of the City of Paris, this publication was intended to preserve the memory of two of the most magnificent ceremonial commissions of the Imperial decorative arts: the dressing-table service presented to Marie-Louise upon her marriage to Napoleon and the cradle made for the King of Rome. Both were designed by Prud'hon and executed by the celebrated partnership of Odiot and Thomire at the height of their careers.

The documentary importance of the work is enhanced by the participation of Adrien-Louis-Marie Cavelier among its engravers. Associated with the Odiot workshop, he appears to have been involved in preparing Prud'hon's designs for execution by the craftsmen. The plates therefore constitute an exceptional visual record of masterpieces of the Imperial decorative arts that have either disappeared or are today divided between the collections of Vienna and Fontainebleau.

A distinguished provenance copy preserving the finest engraved record of two of the most celebrated creations of the Imperial decorative arts, one of which - the dressing-table service presented to Empress Marie-Louise - has now almost entirely vanished.