When he returned to St. Petersburg in 1910, rehabilitated by the Tsar after a few years of exile in Paris, Grand Duke Paul asked Henry Delisle, with whom he had befriended him to draw and make the elements of decor of his new palace of Tsarkoe Selo. Among the objects that he draws for him, is this office very neoclassical spirit carried by four spangled bronze sphinxes that highlight the talent of the designer and the expertise of cabinetmakers Paris.