The boudoir at the Grand Trianon had originally been decorated for Napoleon’s mother in 1805. Napoleon had ordered the Sèvres vase on the mantlepiece for her then.
The year of the divorce Josephine had started ordering furniture for the Grand Trianon. She ordered a sofa, a wing chair, four chairs , fire screen and two footstools. She also moved the mahogany desk she originally had at the Paris residence she lived in when she first met Napoleon.
Josephine did not get to use any of it. She did not stay overnight at the Grand Trianon before the divorce. The boudoir was used by Napoleon’s new wife Marie-Louise who ordered the mahogany tapestry loom with its bronze decoration for this boudoir.
Josephine had ordered this mahogany drop leaf writing desk from Jacob Frères for her residence in Paris the year she married Napoleon.
Before leaving for Egypt in 1798 Napoleon bought the house (Josephine had been renting it). In 1805 he gave the house to his cousin Stephanie and one of his officers, Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes as a wedding gift.
Josephine’s desk went into storage until being sent to the Grand Trianon to be placed in the boudoir.
