Furniture by one of the greatest cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century
JEAN-HENRI RIESENER (1734–1806)
Writing table
c.1780–85 (later altered)Oak, conifer, purplewood, satiné, tulipwood, stained woods, ebony or ebonised wood, box, gilt bronze | 73.2 x 80 x 48 cm | 2460
The early history of this table is unclear, though it resembles several tables recorded by the Garde-Meuble, including ones delivered to Marie-Antoinette and Madame Élisabeth. It first appears in a royal inventory in 1826 during the reign of Charles X (Louis XVI’s youngest brother, and formerly comte d’Artois), where it was documented as being in the bedroom of the ‘Major of the King’s Bodyguard’ at the Tuileries. Its whereabouts between leaving the palace in 1829, and arriving at Waddesdon Manor in 1897, are currently unknown.
