AFTER THE MODEL BY MARTIN CARLIN, BY EMMANUEL-ALFRED (DIT ALFRED II) BEURDELEY, PARIS, CIRCA 1880

A closely related lacquer writing table (bureau plat) by Martin Carlin is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (1049:1-1882). In May 1784, the Grand-Duchess, the future Tsarina, Marie Feodorovna, visited the emporium of the marchand-mercier, Dominique Daguerre, in Paris, and purchased considerable quantities of furniture, including a table very similar to this but set with Sèvres porcelain plaques instead of lacquer. Another similar lacquer writing table by Carlin is in the Louvre, Paris. Other 19th century replicas of this model have sold Christie's, London, 1 November 2001, lot 92 (£30,550) and Christie's, New York, 19 April 2016, lot 21 ($75,000).