LATE 18TH EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF ADAM WEISWEILER

This form of Grecian lyre-trestled and tray-topped table evolved from a celebrated work-table designed in the 1780s for Marie Antoinette's apartment at Fontainebleau and executed by Jean-Henri Riesener, appointed ébéniste to Louis XVI in 1774. This form of table had a variety of names such as 'vide poche' or 'tricoteuse', and a related elliptic-ended table, bearing the RVLC stamp of Roger Vandercruse (d. 1799) is in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris (N. de Reynies, Le Mobilier Domestique, Paris, 1987, vol. I, p. 365, nos. 1306 and 1314). The manufacture of a related table, with Wedgwood medallions (now in the Wallace Collection, London) is credited to the marchand mercier Dominique Daguerre and bears the mark of Adam Weisweiler (d. 1820) (maître ébéniste in 1778) (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. II, no. 221).

In the Dominique Daguerre sale in these Rooms, 25-26 March 1791, a table described as 'An elegant lady's work table, with feet in form of lyre, Wedgwood medallions and ormolu mountings' was included as lot 58.