A Louis XVI ormolu-mounted parquetry table de chevet stamped J.H. Riesener

the rectangular white marble top with pierced three-quarter gallery, the frieze drawer fitted with a leather writing surface and concealing a narrow drawer at the side with compartments for inkwell and sand pot; the front now fitted with a pair of doors, raised on square tapered legs ending in leaf-cast ormolu sabots fitted with casters; the whole veneered with panels of trellis parquetry on grounds of sycamore; outlined with ormolu borders and fitted with associated ormolu ring handles.

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, Monaco, February 8, 1981, lot 218

This table is in many respects identical to two other bedside tables.  One was delivered on December 21, 1784 for the Queen's state apartments at the Tuileries, now in the Musée du Louvre, illustrated, D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tennenbaum & A. Lefébure, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, no. 94.  The second which bears the inventory number 3409 of the Garde Meuble was sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, November 26, 1979, lot 221 (later appearing from a private collection, Christie's, London, Decemer 12, 2002, lot 75, withdrawn).

These two bedside tables were part of a larger group of furniture delivered by Riesener for the Queen at the Tuileries (see Alexandre Pradère, Les ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la révolution, Paris, 1989, pp. 382-383, pls. 466-469).  They are all veneered in lozenge marquetry identical to the present lot, which Riesener had invented specifically for this group.  It is a marquetry of lozenges delineated by black and white fillets on a sycamore ground called satiné gris.  It was a departure from the very plain veneers and restrained marquetry which had become fashionable following the very elaborate marquetry panels which Riesener had created from 1769 to around 1780.