Like the most furniture produced by the company, the jewelry cabinet is a perfect balance between very precious materials – for instance silver, ivory, or lapis – with a breathtaking know-how in the field of furniture, tapestry and bronze. “Nice jewelry furniture put on a satin wood table, decoration in silver, bronze, ivory, Neo-Greek style. The lower part shaped as a table with three drawers in the belt: the middle one with storefront knocking down to create a desk; in the inside a series of small drawers. It is supported by eight feet linked by crossties; the four feet in front are adorned, on the top and bottom, with finely chiseled bronzes; on the sides, a pierced and chiseled corner decoration. On the stride, a feet stool covered with blue velvet. The chest is adorned with silvered and gilt bronzes. The frieze, pilasters and panels decorations are in massive silver chiseled and inlaid following the Fourdinois proceed. The four corners are provided with lapis and bronze columns surmounted by small winged statues in ivory, composed by Carrier-Belleuse. On the doors, enamels by Gobert surrounded by decoration and fruit garlands in chiseled and inlaid silver. The middle part is furnished with satin. It is supported by four claw feet and leans on an embroidered blue velvet carpet.”

The use of decorative old styles, the richness of the materials, the research for excellence in all the creation fields make Alexandre-Georges and Henri-Auguste geniuses of their time for the deep understanding of the aesthetic, moral and economic aspiration of their society. Thanks to his apprenticeship with the furniture maker Georges Jacob-Desmalter Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois (1799-1871) created his company in 1828, and took as partner in 1835 another import artist, Jules Fossey. The first participation of the Fourdinois-Fossey association to an important event took place in the Exposition des produits de l’industrie in 1844, where their Neo-Renaissance dresser won a silver medal. Following this success, important buyers ask them for furniture, especially Louis-Philippe who orders Louis XIII furniture, or even the Dukes and Duchess of Nemours for their apartment in the Palais des Tuileries. Nevertheless, this profitable collaboration between Fossey and Fourdinois ended in 1848. In parallel, Alexandre-Georges prepares the artistic education of his son Henri-Auguste (1830-1907) : at the age of 16 he starts in the workshop of Félix Duban (1797-1870), attached then to the restoration of the Blois castle. His apprenticeship continued in England, forcing as many artists after the 1848 revolution to exile. He joins there, the silversmith Morel, and contributes to his new company standing Morel & Co during the International Exhibition of 1851. When he gets back to Paris, it’s with the bronze maker, Victor Paillard, that the young Fourdinois starts working, before finishing his formation by entering as a designer in one of the first tapestry houses. It’s around the year 1860 that Henri-Auguste starts to take importance in the Fourdinois company, even though there is a lack of information to prove it, and it’s only in 1867 that Fourdinois father definitively retires himself from the direction of the company. This same year is the one of recognition for Henri-Auguste, who shows in the International Exhibition a cabinet that goes directly on the collection of the South Kensington Museum in London, first and main decorative arts museum in this period of time. The Fourdinois booth, highly noticed, is also honored by the King of Spain, who buys the exhibited bed. The following years, the Fourdinois company continues to distinguish itself during the numerous International Exhibitions, like the one in Vienna in 1873, or in Paris in 1878. Henri-Auguste would have received all the honors that a furniture maker could have hoped for: in addition to the gold medal, the Grand Prix, the honor Diploma, he received the knight cross of the Legion of Honor in 1870. If its company, risking the bankruptcy, had to close its doors in 1887, it stays a symbol in its production of a taste and a way of life during the Second Empire whose splendor and luxury continue to amaze.