François-Désiré Froment-Meurice

François-Désiré Froment-Meurice (31 December 1802 — 17 February 1855) was a French goldsmith, working in a free and naturalistic manner in the tradition of Mannerist and Baroque masters.

As a leader in the Romantic jewelry movement, he crafted intricate pieces depicting Gothic-inspired figures, such as armored knights, lords and ladies in period costume, angels, and saints, often set within elaborate frames enriched by polychrome enamel.

His designs, influenced by Mannerist and Baroque traditions, emphasized a sculptural approach and aligned with the Romantic era’s fascination with historical and chivalric themes, appealing to a taste for medieval elegance.

In a semi-official commission, he produced a spectacular, fully equipped toilette for the duchess of Parma (1855–58), now at the Musée d'Orsay; it was commissioned in 1845 by a subscription circulated among Legitimist ladies of France for the marriage of Louise-Thérèse de Bourbon, granddaughter of Charles X, with the future duke Charles III of Parma.

At the Exposition Universelle (1867) the Maison Froment-Meurice exhibited a monumental sculptural overmantel for the Hôtel de Ville, that was lost in the fire that consumed the building during the Paris Commune of 1870.