Lot Essay
The tablet-front, with its inset corners decorated with circular medallions and the breakfront, is a feature of David Roentgen's oeuvre, such as featured on a small coin and jewellery-cabinet in the C.L. David Collection, Copenhagen (J.M. Greber, Abraham und David Roentgen, Starnberg, 1980, vol. II, figs. 602-603), and on multi-purpose tables such as that illustrated in D. Fabian, Abraham und David Roentgen, Bad Neustadt, 1996, p. 63, fig. 105. The design however is based on breakfront commodes with tablet frames such as that by Jean-Henri Riesener, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 15 June 1996, lot 164. A table de toilette, made in Strassbourg and with very similar legs and panelling is illustrated in F. Lévy-Coblentz, L'Art du Meuble en Alsace au Siècle des Lumières, Saint-Dié, 1985, vol. II, p. 470, fig. 359.