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Lot Essay
David Roentgen, maître in 1780.
With its beautifully figured mahogany timber, fine ormolu mounts, and overall pure form inspired by contemporaneous English tripod tables, this elegant guéridon is a product typical of the workshop of David Roentgen in the late eighteenth century. A particularly interesting feature of this work distinguishing it from contemporary French models is its inventive gallery, which Roentgen executed in wood in lieu of gilt bronze. Roentgen is known to have produced similar models in various sizes, some of which were used to serve tea or small meals in intimate domestic settings. Its similarity with late Louis XVI guéridons, the French provenance of most surviving comparable examples, and the presence of a maker’s stamp suggest that Roentgen’s workshop produced these tables for the French, and possibly Russian, markets (see W. Koeppe, ed., Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens, New Haven and London, 2012, p. 200). A similar table with identical wood gallery, comparable stem, and stamp by Roentgen is illustrated ibid., p. 201. Another example stamped by Roentgen with almost identical figuring to the mahogany top was sold from the collection of Pierre Durand, Christie's, New York, 27 January 2022, lot 81 ($75,000).
With its beautifully figured mahogany timber, fine ormolu mounts, and overall pure form inspired by contemporaneous English tripod tables, this elegant guéridon is a product typical of the workshop of David Roentgen in the late eighteenth century. A particularly interesting feature of this work distinguishing it from contemporary French models is its inventive gallery, which Roentgen executed in wood in lieu of gilt bronze. Roentgen is known to have produced similar models in various sizes, some of which were used to serve tea or small meals in intimate domestic settings. Its similarity with late Louis XVI guéridons, the French provenance of most surviving comparable examples, and the presence of a maker’s stamp suggest that Roentgen’s workshop produced these tables for the French, and possibly Russian, markets (see W. Koeppe, ed., Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens, New Haven and London, 2012, p. 200). A similar table with identical wood gallery, comparable stem, and stamp by Roentgen is illustrated ibid., p. 201. Another example stamped by Roentgen with almost identical figuring to the mahogany top was sold from the collection of Pierre Durand, Christie's, New York, 27 January 2022, lot 81 ($75,000).