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Lot Essay
JEAN-HENRI RIESENER
Arguably the most celebrated ébéniste of the late eighteenth century, Riesener (1734-1806) was, along with Boulle and Cressent, one of the very few makers to be specifically named in eighteenth-century sale catalogues and brought the art of French cabinet-making to a level of near-perfection. Although his most famous productions today comprise palace-sized works preserved in institutional collections, his atelier produced a great number of petite and highly functional pieces as well, both for the Royal court and elite aristocratic clients, their size implying no compromises in the perfection of their design and execution. The present table is a particularly exquisite and rare model from this latter group, embodying many aspects of Riesener’s emerging individual style, which would come to define furniture of the Louis XVI period.
THE INFLUENCE OF OEBEN
The present table represents a transitional period for Riesener, preserving the finest techniques he practiced in the atelier of Jean-François Oeben, with whom he trained, while also introducing new stylistic elements that he would further develop throughout his career. Riesener began work under Oeben soon after his arrival in Paris in 1755, signing Oeben’s name on his own works for several years after his death, before joining the guild of ébénistes after his marriage to Oeben’s widow, Françoise-Marguerite Vandercruse (sister of the ébéniste Roger Vandercruse). In this table, the influence of his former master is unmistakable, from the pictorial marquetry panel at the top, a feature of the seventeenth century brilliantly revived by Oeben, to the curving legs, a defining feature of the mid-eighteenth century. The greatest influence on the table, however, may be the perfection with which its moving parts interact and unfold. While it is not a mechanical piece, it nonetheless reflects the exacting precision and ingenuity of a cabinetmaker trained in the art of mechanical furniture. Among its technical coups of cabinetmaking are its multiple tops, the upper lifting by concealed hinges to an inset mirror at its underside, with the raised edge of the lower top fitting perfectly within its bounds. Below this, the table’s breakfront structure allows the metal pulls of its writing-slide to tuck neatly beneath the edge of the top when recessed, allowing its writing function to be ‘put away’ when not in in use. Perhaps most impressive, however, is Riesener’s construction of the side drawers: each drawer-box is rabbeted along its two sides to receive the sides of the other, with these sides interlocking along their length inside the carcase. By this ingenious overlapping, the drawers stabilize one another, preventing them from falling out even when the full box of each is pulled entirely out of the case.
JEAN-HENRI RIESENER AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE LOUIS XVI STYLE
At the same time, the piece anticipates the full expression of the Louis XVI style, and Riesener’s distinct contributions to it. Unlike the sinuous works of the preceding decades, the table's design reveals its basic structure rather than conceals it. Although the legs curve, their profile is composed and settled. As the Louis XVI style continued to develop, Riesener would continue to hold out against the trend of unerring rectilinearity, never abandoning the breakfront structure or gently curving legs. The artful parquetry and choice of veneers to the table’s sides also reflect Riesener’s evolving approach to his surfaces. Each side’s projecting section is veneered with lozenge-shaped rosewood panels, creating a basket-weave effect. This technique, which Riesener also employed on a commode in the Musée Nissim de Camondo Paris, (inv. no. CAM 120) foreshadows one his later signatures: the complex, highly varied and much-celebrated horizontal-trellis parquetry that appears on much of his later work. The panels flanking these are veneered with strong horizontal figuring and are framed on their outer, but not inner, edges, creating a second illusion, that of a single slab passing directly through the central projection. This motif, seen on several of Riesener's commodes from the same period (see, for example, the pair at the palais de Compiègne, inv. nos. C74.001 and C74.002; the commode in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 1087-1882; and the example sold Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 69), not only reflects his emerging personal style but also anticipates the late eighteenth-century trend toward emphasizing richly figured timbers.
MEUBLES VOLANTS AND THE ART OF LUXURY
These diminutive, multifunctional works of furniture have earned the name volants, a term befitting their lightweight construction and multiple uses. It is easy to imagine the present table being rolled by its casters between rooms, or stowed against a wall or even in a wardrobe while not being used. At every turn, Riesener keenly anticipates his client’s needs and equips the table to transform at their leisure, from a side table into a space for the daily toilette, to a writing-desk, or even—as suggested by the large amount of space devoted to storage—a chiffonière, storing a lady’s needlework and its implements.
At the same time, no less important to Riesener is the table’s beauty, its most important function being perhaps to express its owner's elegance and refined taste. The last decades of the ancien régime were marked by a great delight in the small but sumptuous, the precious and perfected. Such petite gems as this table evoke the luxuries of the era, in which a genteel and fashionable life was inextricable from the arts. Throughout, the marquetry is brilliantly executed, employing at least eight species of timber, all selected, cut, and set with expert precision. The gilt-bronze mounts encapsulate Riesener’s devotion to beauty: their long sections would have been enormously difficult to cast and the chasing is executed with exquisite delicacy, while the false drawer-pulls to the upper front reveal his impulse towards balance and harmony, regardless of the functionality of the handles.
Although an eighteenth-century provenance has yet to emerge, elements of the table provide some clues to its original context. The motif to the top, a trophy of musical instruments, a score-book, roses and a bow and arrows emblematic of love, suggests a lady as the intended recipient. A graphic source for the trophy also remains outstanding, though it appears to be related to the designs of the artist Fossier, recorded circa 1775 as a dessinateur and ornemaniste, about whom little is known. The toilette function of the table offers a small clue to the original space: it must have been intended for a private room, perhaps as boudoir or a study, rather than a public salon de réception.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
The most similar documented table is an unstamped example included in the landmark 2014 exhibition at the château de Versailles, 18e, Aux Sources du Design, Chefs-d'œuvre du Mobilier 1650 à 1790, cat. no. 75. The marquetry atop this table depicts a closely related but not identical trophy, and the whole differs in its use of gilt bronze. Preserved in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. F 322) is a slightly taller and narrower table of very similar form and function, also unstamped, its surface reveneered in mahogany in the nineteenth century and its lower drawers replaced with a fall-front. A third, slightly larger, table was sold from the collection of the Earls of Rosebery, Sotheby's house sale, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, 24 May 1977, lot 525, described in the catalogue as Louis XVI 'style'.
Arguably the most celebrated ébéniste of the late eighteenth century, Riesener (1734-1806) was, along with Boulle and Cressent, one of the very few makers to be specifically named in eighteenth-century sale catalogues and brought the art of French cabinet-making to a level of near-perfection. Although his most famous productions today comprise palace-sized works preserved in institutional collections, his atelier produced a great number of petite and highly functional pieces as well, both for the Royal court and elite aristocratic clients, their size implying no compromises in the perfection of their design and execution. The present table is a particularly exquisite and rare model from this latter group, embodying many aspects of Riesener’s emerging individual style, which would come to define furniture of the Louis XVI period.
THE INFLUENCE OF OEBEN
The present table represents a transitional period for Riesener, preserving the finest techniques he practiced in the atelier of Jean-François Oeben, with whom he trained, while also introducing new stylistic elements that he would further develop throughout his career. Riesener began work under Oeben soon after his arrival in Paris in 1755, signing Oeben’s name on his own works for several years after his death, before joining the guild of ébénistes after his marriage to Oeben’s widow, Françoise-Marguerite Vandercruse (sister of the ébéniste Roger Vandercruse). In this table, the influence of his former master is unmistakable, from the pictorial marquetry panel at the top, a feature of the seventeenth century brilliantly revived by Oeben, to the curving legs, a defining feature of the mid-eighteenth century. The greatest influence on the table, however, may be the perfection with which its moving parts interact and unfold. While it is not a mechanical piece, it nonetheless reflects the exacting precision and ingenuity of a cabinetmaker trained in the art of mechanical furniture. Among its technical coups of cabinetmaking are its multiple tops, the upper lifting by concealed hinges to an inset mirror at its underside, with the raised edge of the lower top fitting perfectly within its bounds. Below this, the table’s breakfront structure allows the metal pulls of its writing-slide to tuck neatly beneath the edge of the top when recessed, allowing its writing function to be ‘put away’ when not in in use. Perhaps most impressive, however, is Riesener’s construction of the side drawers: each drawer-box is rabbeted along its two sides to receive the sides of the other, with these sides interlocking along their length inside the carcase. By this ingenious overlapping, the drawers stabilize one another, preventing them from falling out even when the full box of each is pulled entirely out of the case.
JEAN-HENRI RIESENER AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE LOUIS XVI STYLE
At the same time, the piece anticipates the full expression of the Louis XVI style, and Riesener’s distinct contributions to it. Unlike the sinuous works of the preceding decades, the table's design reveals its basic structure rather than conceals it. Although the legs curve, their profile is composed and settled. As the Louis XVI style continued to develop, Riesener would continue to hold out against the trend of unerring rectilinearity, never abandoning the breakfront structure or gently curving legs. The artful parquetry and choice of veneers to the table’s sides also reflect Riesener’s evolving approach to his surfaces. Each side’s projecting section is veneered with lozenge-shaped rosewood panels, creating a basket-weave effect. This technique, which Riesener also employed on a commode in the Musée Nissim de Camondo Paris, (inv. no. CAM 120) foreshadows one his later signatures: the complex, highly varied and much-celebrated horizontal-trellis parquetry that appears on much of his later work. The panels flanking these are veneered with strong horizontal figuring and are framed on their outer, but not inner, edges, creating a second illusion, that of a single slab passing directly through the central projection. This motif, seen on several of Riesener's commodes from the same period (see, for example, the pair at the palais de Compiègne, inv. nos. C74.001 and C74.002; the commode in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 1087-1882; and the example sold Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 69), not only reflects his emerging personal style but also anticipates the late eighteenth-century trend toward emphasizing richly figured timbers.
MEUBLES VOLANTS AND THE ART OF LUXURY
These diminutive, multifunctional works of furniture have earned the name volants, a term befitting their lightweight construction and multiple uses. It is easy to imagine the present table being rolled by its casters between rooms, or stowed against a wall or even in a wardrobe while not being used. At every turn, Riesener keenly anticipates his client’s needs and equips the table to transform at their leisure, from a side table into a space for the daily toilette, to a writing-desk, or even—as suggested by the large amount of space devoted to storage—a chiffonière, storing a lady’s needlework and its implements.
At the same time, no less important to Riesener is the table’s beauty, its most important function being perhaps to express its owner's elegance and refined taste. The last decades of the ancien régime were marked by a great delight in the small but sumptuous, the precious and perfected. Such petite gems as this table evoke the luxuries of the era, in which a genteel and fashionable life was inextricable from the arts. Throughout, the marquetry is brilliantly executed, employing at least eight species of timber, all selected, cut, and set with expert precision. The gilt-bronze mounts encapsulate Riesener’s devotion to beauty: their long sections would have been enormously difficult to cast and the chasing is executed with exquisite delicacy, while the false drawer-pulls to the upper front reveal his impulse towards balance and harmony, regardless of the functionality of the handles.
Although an eighteenth-century provenance has yet to emerge, elements of the table provide some clues to its original context. The motif to the top, a trophy of musical instruments, a score-book, roses and a bow and arrows emblematic of love, suggests a lady as the intended recipient. A graphic source for the trophy also remains outstanding, though it appears to be related to the designs of the artist Fossier, recorded circa 1775 as a dessinateur and ornemaniste, about whom little is known. The toilette function of the table offers a small clue to the original space: it must have been intended for a private room, perhaps as boudoir or a study, rather than a public salon de réception.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
The most similar documented table is an unstamped example included in the landmark 2014 exhibition at the château de Versailles, 18e, Aux Sources du Design, Chefs-d'œuvre du Mobilier 1650 à 1790, cat. no. 75. The marquetry atop this table depicts a closely related but not identical trophy, and the whole differs in its use of gilt bronze. Preserved in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. F 322) is a slightly taller and narrower table of very similar form and function, also unstamped, its surface reveneered in mahogany in the nineteenth century and its lower drawers replaced with a fall-front. A third, slightly larger, table was sold from the collection of the Earls of Rosebery, Sotheby's house sale, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, 24 May 1977, lot 525, described in the catalogue as Louis XVI 'style'.