Quick gist to show the use of hydrating an entity from a dictionary(i.e. CouchDocument).

CouchDocument.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace SineSignal.Ottoman
{
	public class CouchDocument : Dictionary<string, object>
	{
		public const string ID_KEY = "_id";
		public const string REVISION_KEY = "_rev";
		public const string TYPE_KEY = "Type";
		
		public CouchDocument()
		{
		}
		
		public CouchDocument(object entity, PropertyDescriptor identityProperty)
		{
			DehydrateEntity(entity, identityProperty);
		}
		
		public T HydrateEntity<T>(PropertyDescriptor identityProperty)
		{
			Type entityType = typeof(T);
			object instance = CreateInstance(entityType);
			
			HydrateProperties(instance, entityType, identityProperty, this);
			
			return (T)instance;
		}
		
		private void DehydrateEntity(object entity, PropertyDescriptor identityProperty)
		{
			var entityType = entity.GetType();
			
			this[TYPE_KEY] = entityType.Name;
			
			foreach (PropertyDescriptor property in GetEntityProperties(entityType))
			{
				var key = property.Name;
				
				if (key == identityProperty.Name)
					continue;
				
				this[key] = property.GetValue(entity);
			}
		}
		
		private static void SetProperty(object entity, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, object propertyValue)
		{
			if (propertyDescriptor.Converter.CanConvertFrom(propertyValue.GetType()))
			{
				propertyDescriptor.SetValue(entity, propertyDescriptor.Converter.ConvertFrom(propertyValue));
			}
			else
			{
				object instance = CreateInstance(propertyDescriptor.PropertyType);
				HydrateProperties(instance, propertyDescriptor.PropertyType, (IDictionary<string, object>)propertyValue);
				propertyDescriptor.SetValue(entity, instance);
			}
		}
		
		private static void HydrateProperty(object entity, PropertyDescriptor identityPropertyDescriptor, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, IDictionary<string, object> entityValues)
		{
			object propertyValue;
			
			if (identityPropertyDescriptor == null || propertyDescriptor.Name != identityPropertyDescriptor.Name)
			{
				propertyValue = entityValues[propertyDescriptor.Name];
			}
			else
			{
				propertyValue = entityValues[ID_KEY];
			}
			
			SetProperty(entity, propertyDescriptor, propertyValue);
		}
		
		private static PropertyDescriptorCollection GetEntityProperties(Type entityType)
		{
			return TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(entityType);
		}
		
		private static void HydrateProperties(object entity, Type entityType, IDictionary<string, object> entityValues)
		{
			HydrateProperties(entity, entityType, null, entityValues);
		}
		
		private static void HydrateProperties(object entity, Type entityType, PropertyDescriptor identityPropertyDescriptor, IDictionary<string, object> entityValues)
		{
			PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = GetEntityProperties(entityType);
			
			foreach (PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor in properties)
			{
				HydrateProperty(entity, identityPropertyDescriptor, propertyDescriptor, entityValues);
			}
		}
		
		private static object CreateInstance(Type entityType)
		{
			return Activator.CreateInstance(entityType);
		}
	}
	}
}