CIRCA 1725

This type of table, known in the 18th Century as a table en cabaret or cabaret, was intended for the drinking of tea and coffee. Introduced into France in the late 17th Century, the great luxuries of tea and coffee became hugely fashionable, so firing the imaginations of the marchands-merciers to create furniture appropriate for their consumption. They usually incorporated lacquer, porcelain or faience, with the bases lacquered or gilded, though examples in wood are known to exist,such is that previously at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, sold Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 12, as well as others orig inally recorded in the collections of the marquis de Marigny and possibly also Madame de Pompadour.