A fine gilt-bronze-mounted tulipwood, amaranth and parquetry table à la Bourgogne stamped J.F. Leleu JME Louis XV/XVI Transitional, circa 1770

with a rectangular gilt-bronze-banded sliding top , opening to reveal a pop-up superstructure comprising six small drawers, one fitted for writing implememnts,  with a drawer in the front with a ram's mask mount opposing a ram's mask mount on the reverse , with two further drawers on one side, and one on the other, on cabriole legs terminating in scrolled feet, the whole inlaid with strapwork cartouches and cube parquetry; internal restorations 

Comparative Literature:

D. Alcouffe  et al. Furniture Collections in the Loôvre,  Dijon, 1993, p. 184-185, no. 56.

Rosemarie Stratmann-Dohler, Jean-François Oeben 1721 -1763, Paris, 2002,   pp. 33, 66, 84,  98, 100. 

Guillaume Janneau, Le Meuble d'Ebénisterie, Paris, 1993, p. 103, figs 110-111, illustrates a table à la Bourgogne in cube parquetry stamped R.V.L.C., now in the Musée Nissim Camondo, where he states that the idea for this type of furniture was borrowed from Oeben.  Also see p. 104, no. 112, for another example now in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs.

Peter Hughes, The Wallace Collection , Catalogue of Furniture, Vol. II,  London, 1996, p. 1064, no. 210.

Table à  La Bourgogne

The name given to this type of table by Oeben, according to Alcouffe, op. cit., apparently renders homage to the young Duc de Bourgogne, the eldest of Louis XV's grandsons (1751-1760), who was handicapped. Oeben made an invalid's mechanical armchair for him in 1760. After Oeben's death, the inventory includes two tables of this type. Alcouffe illustrates the Louvre example which is stamped Oeben on the prie -Dieu.

The Oeben-Leleu Connection:

Although this ingenious table is stamped Leleu, the similarities in design, marquetry and mounts with the oevre of J.-F. Oeben who was renowned for his mechanical furniture, must not be discount a collaboration with the latter .

The cube parquetry on this table is very often used on pieces signed by Jean-François Oeben. A typical example of this is a small table à transformation in the Wallace Collection, London-see op. cit. p. 1065. This is stated to be clearly the work of Oeben but may have been made by Leleu, as it is incised under the lower front drawer with his name.  The illustrated table has ram's head mounts on the corners, as on the offered table, which is a model of a mount mentioned several times in the probate inventory of  Oeben in 1763 and the ram's head is on a work table of Oeben type in the celebrated portrait of Madame de Pompadour by F.-H. Drouais of 1763-64. Also see the table à la Bourgogne in the Louvre with identical marquetry  to that on the sides of this piece, (inv. OA 10001), illustrated by Alcouffe, op. cit., p. 184, no. 56.

In Wallace Furniture 1956 it is argued that the inised signature of Leleu may be genuine and may signify that it was made by Leleu whlist he was still working in the workshop of Oeben.   Itr is also argued that  that as a result of the tensions between Oeben and Riesener, after Oeben's death, Leleu might have been provoked to assert authorship. Although on the offered table the stamp differs with that on the Wallace table and states he was a maitre ébéniste so the piece must have been made after 1764.

The mounts on the Wallace table are stated to be asociated with the Oeben workshop rather than with Leleu when fully independent  and could perhaps have been modelled by J.-C.-T. Duplessis fils (c. 1730-1783).

Stratmann-Dohler op. cit.,  illustrates various pieces by Oeben with identical or very similar marquetry:

-a small table à la Bourgogne, p. 84, decorated with flowers on the top with  identical chevron marquetry on the sides to that on the top of the offered table in the Residenz Munich, cat. 115.

-a secrétaire with cube parquetry, on p. 66, Musée du Louvre Paris, cat. 59.

-a small mechanical table, p. 98, with identical chevron marquetry on the sides to that

on the top of the offered table, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, cat. 135.  

Other related examples of tables à la Bourgogne: 

-one stamped Riesener and Cosson, sold as lot 12, Sotheby's, Monaco, 4th December 1992 

-one stamped Roussel, sold as lot 130, Christie's, London, 9th December 1993

-one stamped Nicholas Petit formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sold Sotheby's, New York, November 1st, 1997 

- one sold as lot 124, Sotheby's , New York, 19th October 2002 

Jean-Francois Oeben (1721-1763)

He was received Master in 1761 and was established in the rue de Faubourg Saint-Antoine and in 1754, he was given the title of `ébéniste du roi' and moved to the Gobelins. He was renowned for his mechanical furniture and in 1760 was granted the title of `ébéniste mecanicien du roi'. His illustrious clientele included the Gare-Meuble Royal, the duc D'Aumont, Madame de Pompadour and the Ministers Choiseul and D'Argenson.