IN THE LOUIS XVI STYLE, AFTER THE MODEL BY JEAN-HENRI RIESENER, BY ALFRED BEURDELEY, PARIS, CIRCA 1880

Alfred-Emmanuel-Louis Beurdeley (1847-1919) worked at first with his father and eventually succeeded him. He kept the shop at rue Louis-le-Legrand (The Hannover Pavillion) and had workshops at 20 and 24 rue Dautancourt. He exhibited at the 1878 Exhibition. The ormolu mounts on Beurdeley furniture and the numerous smaller artefacts, often marble pieces, are almost invariably of an exceptionally high quality. The mercurial gilding and hand chasing are of a standard that makes them difficult to distinguish from late eighteenth century work.

This centre table is a replica of the celebrated model delivered by Jean-Henri Riesener to the Garde Meuble for Queen Marie-Antoinette, later placed in the Grand Drawing-Room in the Petit Trianon by Empress Eugénie, now still in-situ.