CIRCA 1750

Referred to as tables en chiffonière in the 18th Century, owing to their use by ladies pour le dépôt de leurs ouvrages au chiffons, this form of table developed from the prototype table de cabaret of the late 17th Century, which appeared following the visit to France of the Ambassador of Siam. The Ambassador's visit brought in the new fashion for hot drinks, particularly tea, coffee and hot chocolate, and as a result new forms of table that were less susceptible to damage through heat and spillage were required. Lacquer, being both heat resistant and impervious to water, served this requirement perfectly.

Undoubtedly commissioned by a marchand-mercier as they enjoyed the monopoly over the importation and trade of non-perishable goods such as Oriental lacquer and porcelain, these tables were most usually ornamented with a top lacqured in Paris and rested on either veneered, giltwood, vernis or marquetry stands. Conceived as a stand for a porcelain cabaret, amongst the earliest recorded examples is the table supplied by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux to the painter François Boucher in 1748:
Une table de vernis en vert et fleurs garnie en velours et cornets argentés avec un cabaret aussi verni, quatre tasses et soucoupe, pot à sucre et théière de Saxe fon vert à fleurs naturelles.
This form of table was the prototype for the Sèvres porcelain-mounted tables à café executed for Simon-Philippe Poirier by BVRB and RVLC from 1760.