A pair of mahogany open bookcases signed Lesage. Paris by 1820

Antoine Nicolas Lesage (1784-1841)
Pair of open bookcases with four shelves
Solid mahogany and mahogany veneer, brass inlay and gilt bronze
Signed : LESAGE / Rue Grange-Batelière / n°2 / À Paris
Charles X period, Paris, circa 1820

The four tiers in mahogany are highlighted with brass inlay. The top shelf, framed by an elegant pierced mahogany gallery embellished with gilt-bronze spheres, incorporates a drawer. They rest on tapered, ring-turned legs ending in brass sabots.

Antoine-Nicolas Lesage (1784–1841) was a French merchant and dealer in luxury furniture, decorative arts, and interior furnishings, and one of the most prominent Parisian luxury merchants of the early nineteenth century.
First established from 1812 on the Boulevard des Italiens, he founded “L’Union des Arts” in 1821 at 2 rue de la Grange-Batelière. This firm specializing in grand interior schemes offered furniture, bronzes, clocks, porcelain, tapestries and works of art from the best French and foreign makers, and was able to provide clients with complete interior schemes.

Lesage supplied the French royal family, notably the Duchesse de Berry at the Palais des Tuileries and the Duc d’Orléans at the Château de Neuilly and later at the Château de Meudon. His business was widely patronized by French and foreign elites and is mentioned in contemporary literature, notably Honoré de Balzac’s La Peau de chagrin. Contemporary guidebooks described L’Union des Arts as one of the “must-see” Parisian establishments of the early nineteenth century. Lesage also organized temporary exhibitions in London in the mid-1820s, establishing a presence on Regent Street in the spring of 1825 and 1826.

In 1837, Lesage moved his premises to the Hôtel de Pernon on the Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin, and in 1838 he entered into partnership with one of his employees, Victor-Hyacinthe Grandvoinnet, trading as Lesage et Grandvoinnet. He died in Paris in 1841.