A Russian imperial neoclassical ormolu-mounted and polychrome-painted kingwood table possibly Poland and by the Royal Workshop of King Stanislas Augustus, circa 1785

the underside of the drawer with the Tsarskoe Selo inventory number Ts.D.P 6020 (Tsarskoselskago Dvortsovago Upravleniia 6020) and with Soviet numbers

Russian Imperial Collections, Tsarskoe Selo, until at least 1930 (recorded in the Agate Rooms) and consequently sold by the Soviet government.

Marble top later. Veneer with age and construction cxracks, some buckling and restorationa. Ormolu with oxidation and surface dirt. Painted decoration with craquelure, rubbing and surface dirt.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This table was included in an 1888 inventory of the contents of the imperial palaces in Tsarskoe Selo, Saint Petersburg. At the time it had a polychrome-decorated top, which has since been replaced with the current gray marble panel. A photograph from 1930 also shows this lot, along with a similarly decorated guéridon, in the Agate Rooms of the Cameron Gallery, a series of rooms erected in the 1780s in pure neoclassical taste. It must have been shortly after 1930 that this table was sold by a cash-strapped Soviet goverment to the West together with many other objects and furnishings from the Imperial Collections. Although most likely the product of a Russian workshop, with its distinctive use of cream-painted papier mâché panels painted with flower trails, this table might have been manufactured in the same workshop as the commode and bonheur du jour, circa 1780, now in the National Museum, Warsaw, see A. Rottermund, Neoclassicism in Poland, Warsaw, 1986, pp. 235-236, figs. 225-226. The commode has been attributed by to the Royal Workshops working for King Stanislas Augustus (r. 1764-1795), see B. Maszkowska, History of Polish Furniture-Making, p. 92, fig. 77.  A pair of Louis XVI commodes from the same workshop was offered from the collection of Mrs. Marella Agnelli, Sotheby’s, New York, October 23, 2004, lot 132.