Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (Versailles, 23 September 1749 – Paris, 30 April 1825), was a talented and versatile designer. His father was the controller of the household of the Duc d’Orleans, and Dugourc had the benefit of being educated as the companion of the Duc’s son. He travelled to Italy in about 1764-65, where he met Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the famous scholar and enthusiast of the antique. He married the sister of the architect and landscape designer François-Joseph Bélanger in November 1776. His first recorded project, of 1770 was for the opera house at Versailles, and he received many commissions from court circles. His career had an international scope, with commissions for the courts of Spain, Sweden, England, Germany and Russia. He lived in Madrid from 1800 to 1814. His textile designs for Camille Pernon et cie. of Lyon are celebrated (see for example T.69-1951). His work confidently draws on a number of different styles.

This design is an elevation of one wall of an interior, with a bed or day-bed set in a niche, for a similar example see Museum no. 8459-1863 in the V&A’s collection. Beds such as this set in to a niche gave greater intimacy and privacy, as well as protection from draughts. The design includes decorative elements in the classical style, and the confident handling of decorative elements inspired by the antique is a feature of Dugourc’s work. The subjects of the two roundels, showing scenes of figures in classical dress, have not yet been identified.