Lot Essay
Born in Luxembourg, Frédéric Schmit became one of the great Parisian cabinet makers, specialised in producing high quality furnishings and meubles de fantaisie. Throughout his career he appears to have kept workshops on the rue de Charonne in the centre of the furniture-making district, the Faubourg St Antoine. He received Gold Medals at the 1878 and 1889 Expositions Universelles in Paris, and was always considered to make pieces of the finest quality. A bureau plat of the same model and one with cartonnier is illustrated in C. Payne, Paris Furniture – The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, Paris, p. 507 and 509.