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拍品專文
This richly mounted Mehrzweckstisch, or ‘multi-purpose table’ by the genius cabinetmaker David Roentgen is splendidly decorated with a large marquetry panel depicting the ‘Art of Architecture’ after the designs of Januarius Zick. Marquetry of this quality appears only on Roentgen’s most prestigious commissions and this panel is almost identical to marquetry panels on his most costly and lavish pieces of furniture, namely the three ‘Prunkkabinetten’ delivered to Charles Alexander of Lorraine in Brussels, Friedrich Wilhelm II in Berlin and the French Royal family at Versailles respectively. Executed in the taste of the French court, the table was acquired by the British Le Marchant family in the 1820s, most probably in the aftermath of the revolutionary sales of French royal and aristocratic property.
The table top incorporates a large marquetry panel depicting the art of architecture. This panel is after the designs of Janurius Zick and is almost identical to marquetry panels employed by Roentgen on his most costly and lavish pieces of furniture, namely the three ‘Prunkkabinetten’ delivered to Charles Alexander of Lorraine in Brussels, Friedrich Wilhelm II in Berlin and the French Royal family at Versailles respectively. These cabinets incorporate a marquetry panel of similar size and identical design although this marquetry panel includes additional architectural columns and a second workman’s table to the design.
The fitted drawers to the interior sliding writing surface feature English Regency handles typical of campaign furniture used in the early 19th century. Redundant holes to the interior of the drawer fronts indicate that the drawers originally had pull handles as on other Roentgen pieces of this type and it is likely that these handles were replaced when the table came to England in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
The years directly after the French Revolution and then again after the fall of the Napoleonic First Empire saw many pieces of fine French furniture cross the English Channel to join British collections, with many of these pieces having previously been acquired by French marchands in the Revolutionary Sales of French royal and aristocratic property. Early sales of French royal and aristocratic fine and decorative arts to the British nobility in the direct aftermath of the Revolution had firmly established a taste for French furniture in England and the reestablishment of peace between the two nations in 1815 saw a renewed vigour by British collectors to acquire such pieces. Notable English collectors in this period included military figures of the Napoleonic Wars like the Duke of Wellington who acquired a number of magnificent pieces of French furniture for Stratfield Saye.
It is likely that in this context the French-born John Le Marchant (1766-1812), a friend of Wellington’s and comrade in the Napoleonic and Peninsular Wars as well as the founder of the predecessor to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, or more likley his son Denis Le Marchant 1st Bt. (1795-1874), acquired this dressing table, which with its refined ormolu mounts by François Rémond, and elegant marquetry panel relates to the taste of the French royal court. The replacement of the original pull handles with campaign handles used for military furniture as well as Le Marchant's personal friendship with the the Duke of Wellington, a great collector of French furniture in his own right, temptingly adds strength to this theory.
The table top incorporates a large marquetry panel depicting the art of architecture. This panel is after the designs of Janurius Zick and is almost identical to marquetry panels employed by Roentgen on his most costly and lavish pieces of furniture, namely the three ‘Prunkkabinetten’ delivered to Charles Alexander of Lorraine in Brussels, Friedrich Wilhelm II in Berlin and the French Royal family at Versailles respectively. These cabinets incorporate a marquetry panel of similar size and identical design although this marquetry panel includes additional architectural columns and a second workman’s table to the design.
The fitted drawers to the interior sliding writing surface feature English Regency handles typical of campaign furniture used in the early 19th century. Redundant holes to the interior of the drawer fronts indicate that the drawers originally had pull handles as on other Roentgen pieces of this type and it is likely that these handles were replaced when the table came to England in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
The years directly after the French Revolution and then again after the fall of the Napoleonic First Empire saw many pieces of fine French furniture cross the English Channel to join British collections, with many of these pieces having previously been acquired by French marchands in the Revolutionary Sales of French royal and aristocratic property. Early sales of French royal and aristocratic fine and decorative arts to the British nobility in the direct aftermath of the Revolution had firmly established a taste for French furniture in England and the reestablishment of peace between the two nations in 1815 saw a renewed vigour by British collectors to acquire such pieces. Notable English collectors in this period included military figures of the Napoleonic Wars like the Duke of Wellington who acquired a number of magnificent pieces of French furniture for Stratfield Saye.
It is likely that in this context the French-born John Le Marchant (1766-1812), a friend of Wellington’s and comrade in the Napoleonic and Peninsular Wars as well as the founder of the predecessor to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, or more likley his son Denis Le Marchant 1st Bt. (1795-1874), acquired this dressing table, which with its refined ormolu mounts by François Rémond, and elegant marquetry panel relates to the taste of the French royal court. The replacement of the original pull handles with campaign handles used for military furniture as well as Le Marchant's personal friendship with the the Duke of Wellington, a great collector of French furniture in his own right, temptingly adds strength to this theory.