A delightful tradition, the French 'vide pooch', or quite literally, 'empty pocket'. Always found at bedside or mantel, these charming and varied creations were the place into which one deposited watch and pocket contents or jewelry at night. You see the hook for a pocket watch (variety of sizes work), the glass tray below into which coins or jewelry and watch chain would be stored. The arrows to sides form hooks for rings and or chains. Such a variety of these, but this one is quite special with the champleve enamel accents - a Napoleon III revival of the French Empire or Napoleonic exotic conquests. The stand would date c.1850-70s.
Very good to excellent condition, no breaks in the glass cup or tray, no loss to the ormolu and even the 2 champleve enamel adornments are in fine order. It is possible the glass tray may be a replacement, as the wire framework could take a larger tray (see images) but it is same era glass and works very nicely as it came to us from France. I neglected to put measurements on photos - it is 9" in height, 4" widest at front and 3 1/2" wide between the stationary posts of the back.
