Alphonse Giroux (1776-1848), Jewelry Box And Cloisonné Enamels, 19th Century

Jewelry box in bronze, cloisonné enamels and alabaster, lid decorated with a polychrome enameled plaque decorated with a scene of a woman and cherub, beautiful pink silk padding inside, padlock with key, Monogrammed AG underneath , numbered 809. 19th century. François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux, born April 6, 1776 in Paris and died in the same city on April 24, 18481, was a French painter, table maker and cabinetmaker. Biography: Alphonse Giroux first turned towards a career as a painter under the direction of Jacques-Louis David, but he abandoned his brushes for an activity as a dealer in paintings and furniture and works of art. From 1799 to 1848, he worked at no. 7 rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré in Paris. Under the A. GIROUX brand in PARIS, his store became a famous tablet and cabinetmaking store whose activity spread from the consulate to the end of the Second Empire, with the father then the son. The cabinetmaking workshop began in 1799, the father died in 1848 and his two sons succeeded him in the management of the workshops and the store. Their specialty was the manufacture of small, very high-end furniture for the bourgeoisie and the nobility. It was at Giroux's that Charles X and Louis XVIII chose the gifts of the young princes: Princess Louise and the Duke of Bordeaux. Alphonse Giroux won numerous national and international prizes, including a silver medal at the Exhibition of 1834, for leather goods actually due to Joseph Thouvenin such as the Maître Museur briefcase and became, in the second half of the 19th century, a real reference for boxes, various and varied cabinets and small furniture or writing furniture. One of his sons, Alphonse-Gustave, continued his activity. Another, André Giroux, took up the brushes abandoned by his father. On June 22, 1839, Louis Daguerre and Isidore Niépce signed a contract with Alphonse Giroux and the Susse Frères Company, granting them exclusivity for the manufacture and sale of the daguerreotype chamber. In December 1839, François Fauvel-Gouraud went on tour in the United States with a Giroux device and introduced the process to New Yorkers and then to Bostonians. Alphonse Giroux is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery (26th division)