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Lot Essay
Jean-François Oeben, maître in 1759.
With its distinctive imbricated or fish-scale parquetry (d'écailles de poisson), characteristic profile and shaped top, this table is closely related to the documented oeuvre of Jean-François Oeben. Appointed ébéniste du roi in 1754, Oeben's stamp appears on the closely related table mécanique offered from the collection of René Weiller, Sotheby's Monaco, 15 June 1996, lot 126; on that in the Gulbenkian, Lisbon (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p.257, fig.269); on that sold by the Duke of Abercorn at Christie's London, 6 December 1984, lot 58; and a final example on the Paris Art Market in 1990, advertised in Connaissance des Arts, May 1990.
All of the aforementioned tables by Oeben are mechanical, with a sliding top above a front-opening fitted frieze drawer with compartments and central writing-surface (although that in the Gulbenkian has a lacquer panel) and were known as table à coulisse in the 18th Century. However, tables à écrire of this model, with a drawer to the side, were also made by Oeben, a fact testified to by the closely related example visible in the portrait of the comte de Vaudreuil by Roslin, painted in 1765 and now in the National Gallery, Dublin (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes França is de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p.256, fig.266).
The bois de bout floral marquetry of the top is less characteristic of Oeben, being closer to the early work of Roger van der Cruse, dit Lacroix. It is interesting to note, therefore, that RVLC and Oeben were brothers-in-law, and the latter was extremely influential on RVLC's early career. Interestingly, both ébénistes stamped the similar, although much richer, writing-table commissioned by Madame de Pompadour between 1761-63, which is now in the Linsky collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York (J. Pope-Hennessy et al., The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, New York, 1984, no.128) and it is presumed that RVLC completed an unfinished table by Oeben, who died in 1763. A table with related fishscale parquetry by RVLC is illustrated in C. Roinet, Roger van der Cruse dit Lacroix, Paris, 2000, fig.15.
In 1757-8 the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, for whom Oeben is known to have worked, supplied four tables described as being 'tables à écrire dont le dessus à coulisse, le tiroir garni de quarts de rond, baguettes, pieds, chûtes & ornemens dorés d'ormolu, le placage à bois de rose à fleurs, and it is therefore probable that Duvaux was responsible for commissioning the majority of tables of this overall model.
With its distinctive imbricated or fish-scale parquetry (d'écailles de poisson), characteristic profile and shaped top, this table is closely related to the documented oeuvre of Jean-François Oeben. Appointed ébéniste du roi in 1754, Oeben's stamp appears on the closely related table mécanique offered from the collection of René Weiller, Sotheby's Monaco, 15 June 1996, lot 126; on that in the Gulbenkian, Lisbon (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p.257, fig.269); on that sold by the Duke of Abercorn at Christie's London, 6 December 1984, lot 58; and a final example on the Paris Art Market in 1990, advertised in Connaissance des Arts, May 1990.
All of the aforementioned tables by Oeben are mechanical, with a sliding top above a front-opening fitted frieze drawer with compartments and central writing-surface (although that in the Gulbenkian has a lacquer panel) and were known as table à coulisse in the 18th Century. However, tables à écrire of this model, with a drawer to the side, were also made by Oeben, a fact testified to by the closely related example visible in the portrait of the comte de Vaudreuil by Roslin, painted in 1765 and now in the National Gallery, Dublin (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes França is de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p.256, fig.266).
The bois de bout floral marquetry of the top is less characteristic of Oeben, being closer to the early work of Roger van der Cruse, dit Lacroix. It is interesting to note, therefore, that RVLC and Oeben were brothers-in-law, and the latter was extremely influential on RVLC's early career. Interestingly, both ébénistes stamped the similar, although much richer, writing-table commissioned by Madame de Pompadour between 1761-63, which is now in the Linsky collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York (J. Pope-Hennessy et al., The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, New York, 1984, no.128) and it is presumed that RVLC completed an unfinished table by Oeben, who died in 1763. A table with related fishscale parquetry by RVLC is illustrated in C. Roinet, Roger van der Cruse dit Lacroix, Paris, 2000, fig.15.
In 1757-8 the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, for whom Oeben is known to have worked, supplied four tables described as being 'tables à écrire dont le dessus à coulisse, le tiroir garni de quarts de rond, baguettes, pieds, chûtes & ornemens dorés d'ormolu, le placage à bois de rose à fleurs, and it is therefore probable that Duvaux was responsible for commissioning the majority of tables of this overall model.