The lime wood carving above the ladies' secretary (no. 2) was created by the versatile French artist Aubert Parent (1753-1835), who lived in Basel since 1792. He had received his artistic training in Paris, Florence and Rome and, since his return to Paris in 1784, had worked for the artistic and sophisticated environment of the French court. With the French Revolution he lost his commissions and left France in 1792. Basel, Solothurn, the then Prussian Neuchâtel and Berlin were his places of residence and work in the following years. In Basel he found a demanding client in the wealthy silk ribbon producer Johann Rudolf Forcart-Weiss (1749-1834), for whom he designed the garden of his city palace, the Württembergerhof, in the modern landscape style.