A Napoleon III ormolu mounted tortoiseshell and brass 'Boulle' marquetry hauteur d'appui or pier cabinet by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1811-1885) missing its marble topA Napoleon III ormolu mounted tortoiseshell and brass 'Boulle' marquetry hauteur d'appui or pier cabinet by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1811-1885)missing its marble topCirca 1865, inlaid premiere-partie with elaborate scrolled stylised foliage, acanthus, flowers and husks, the panelled door with scrolled foliate lambrequin mounted angles, enclosing a mahogany lined interior with two shelves, on a shaped plinth base, missing its marble top, the lock plate engraved: 'DIEHL, PARIS, 19, R. MICHEL COMTE, 56cm wide x 36cm deep x 133cm high, (22in wide x 14in deep x 52in high)Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1811 - 1885), like many cabinet makers who plied their trade in France during both the 18th and 19th centuries, was actually of German origin. However Diehl settled in Paris in 1840 and established a large atelier at 39, rue Saint-Sebastien. By 1870, there were no fewer than six hundred craftsmen employed at his company.As well as producing furniture for his many wealthy clients, Diehl's firm also made a vast array of luxury objects such as jewellery caskets, liqueur cabinets, games boxes and humidor cabinets. Among Diehl's most well known pieces are those he supplied for the important international exhibitions which took place during the third quarter of the 19th century and begun with the most significant of them all, the Great Exhibition of 1851. He won numerous awards and prizes at all of these exhibitions. A selection of items executed by Diehl are currently housed in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the Musee de l'Ecole de Nancy and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, as well at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th Century, 2013, p.37.