This table is conceived in the fashionable style of the 1770's known as the goût anglais, using plain mahogany veneers and simple functional forms based on English prototypes. One of the foremost exponents of this style was Joseph Gengebach, known as Canabas, who specialized in useful, portable pieces of furniture in rich mahogany of high quality, particularly for the dining room, which was a relatively new development in French furniture. An interesting light on this taste for furniture à l'anglaise among sophisticated Parisian patrons is revealed by a series of letters exchanged between the Marquis de Marigny, "Directeur General des Batiments, Jardins, Arts, Academeies et manufactures Royales" from 1751-1773 and an enlightened connoisseur, and the ébéniste Pierre Garnier. Marigny mentions 'une Toilette d'homme a l'angloise" which he wishes to have embellished, and a pair of "Tables de piquet" which he purchased in London and wished to have copied by Garnier (see Svend Eriksen, "Some letters from the Marquis de Marigny to his cabinet-maker Pierre Garnier". F.H.S.J., 1972, pp.78-81). It may be that a similar English games table was the inspiration for the offered lot by Crémer, a maker about whom little is known.