Beautiful mahogany stepped desk, painted glass and ormolu, opening with thirteen drawers, originally with a clock in front of the top (missing) flanked by two medallions of Roman emperors in painted and ormolu glass, two drawers also in painted and ormolu glass decorated with scrolls, foliage, vine shoots and profiles in gold on a blue background (possibly replacements), resting on tapered legs with ormolu capitals; (small accidents). Empire period. H: 115 cm, W: 132 cm, D: 68 cm Antoine Rascalon (1842-1830), distinguished himself in the technique of painted glass (eglomised glass) at the beginning of the 19th century. He was notably responsible for the extraordinary Empire-period commode belonging to Marshal Soult, whose glass panel decoration stands out, as on this desk, also against a black background (Fontainebleau sale, Osenat study, 25 March 2018, lot 241). This type of motif with figures in profile appears to be much more ambitious than the simple foliage panels found on a series of Empire-period forte-pianos (for an example, see the one delivered in 1810 for Marie-Louise's salon des jeux at the Grand-Trianon, kept at the Grand-Trianon).