SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE MODEL BY JEAN-FRANCOIS OEBEN

This table en chiffonnière or work table is inspired by a prototype of the early 1750s, the basic model of which is depicted in Drouais' portrait of Madame de Pompadour of 1763-64 (now in the National Gallery, London). Executed by Jean-François Oeben, Jean-François Leleu and Jean-Henri Reisener, this model was often embellished further in the second quarter of the 19th century by the addition of a Sèvres porcelain plaque to the top; this is certainly the case with two of the three tables in the Wallace Collection (ibid., 211 (F311) and 213 (F312). The Champalimaud table most closely resembles the third table in the Wallace Collection (F313) - both in the treatment of the ormolu encadrements and the profile of the legs and their illusionistic panels. This latter table, considered as an early work by Riesener, was acquired in the Countess of Clare sale at Christie's on 22-23 February 1866, lot 241. This model enjoyed enduring popularity, and was copied and embellished both in the second quarter of the 19th century by dealers like Edward Holmes Baldock, as well as in the later 19th century - particularly after F313 was exhibited at the Bethnal Green Exhibition in 1872-5.

Further related tables are recorded with A La Vielle Russie, New York, 1980 (illustrated in The Connoisseur, CCV, p.17), as well as in the collection of Eric Vialle, Aubenas (probably that sold Sotheby's Monaco, 24-5 June 1987, lot 1276).