CIRCA 1760

This design of table, with flowing, elegant lines and distinctively inlaid top with bois de bout floral marquetry framed by scrolling cartouche, is often associated with the oeuvre of Bernard II van Risenburgh, known as BVRB. However BVRB's work is usually identified by the distinctive mounts he employed, which are absent on this table. An almost identical table in the Wrightsman Collection, stamped RVLC for Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix (maître in 1755) is illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection Furniture, New York, 1966, vol. II, cat. 155, pp. 316-7. However, as Watson points out, a number of other ébénistes produced similar tables, including Gérard Péridiez sold Christie's, London, 6 July 1961, lot 39, from the collection of the dowager Viscountess Harcourt), Léonard Boudin, (sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 8-10 November, 1956, lot 464), and Gaspard Feilt, (sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22 May 1911, lot 67, from the collection of Mme X). It is therefore probable that a marchand mercier was ultimately responsible for the design of this charming model of table, and contracted the work out to various ébénistes.