Le Jardin d'Armide, panoramic wallpaper décor presented at t - Lot 59

Le Jardin d'Armide, panoramic wallpaper décor presented at the 1855 Paris World's Fair, Manufacture Jules Desfossé, 1854, design by painter Edouard Muller (1823-1876), woodblock printed in vivid polychrome. Central panel depicting the statue of Armide under a flowery pergola, with a large bouquet at her feet, after James Pradier's statue of Pandora, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1850 and the London Salon in 1851. Central leaf (gap at bottom left): 390 x 81 cm Four other leaves (some folds): 390 x 65 cm At the 1855 Universal Exhibition, Jules Desfossé was awarded a first-class medal for his decor. In 1856, Emperor Napoleon III commissioned a hanging with crowned N's and bees for the Imperial Prince's christening. Related works : The Musée d'Orsay and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs hold elements of this décor, (DO 1980 20) and (MAD inv.22632, 29810 and 52443). Bibliography: O. Nouvel-Kammerer, L'Art en France sous le Second Empire, Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 1979. Exhibition catalog, reproduced on cover