A Russian stained sycamore fruitwood inlaid ebony, amaranth and marquetry games table late 18th century

with a rectangular swivelling top, inlaid with a neoclassical urn beneath birds and drapery within a geometric border opening to reveal a snakeskinned lined playing surface, within a border of flowers and leaves and geometric motifs, with a paterae at each corner, on square tapering legs terminating in gilt-bronze sabots

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
The Art of Marquetry in Eighteeth Century Russia, Moscow, 1989, p. 137

The closed top of this table features a delicate composition of neoclassical swags and architectural motifs typical of the neoclassical period brought forth under the reign of Catherine the Great. The use of marquetry became very popular with Russian cabinetmakers in the eighteenth century and they freely experimented with foreign and indigenous species of wood mixing karelian birch and sycamore with amaranth and mahogany.