design for a table with monopods, plate 38 in recueil des décorations intérieures, 1812

The Napoleonic designers Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Léonard Fontaine adapted the lion monopodin their Recueil de décorations intérieures from Piranesi’s plate for a writing desk.

Charles Percier
(French, 1764–1838) and
Pierre-Francois-Léonard Fontaine
(French, 1762–1853)
design for a table with monopods, plate 38 in recueil des décorations intérieures, 1812
Etching on white laid paper
19.1 x 55.9 x 41.9 cm (7 1⁄2 x 22 x16 1⁄2in.)
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council, 1921-6-377-39