A ROYAL LOUIS XV GILT BRONZE-MOUNTED BOIS SATINÉ, AMARANTH AND BOXWOOD-INLAID TABLE, CIRCA 1755; APPARENTLY ALTERED IN THE 19TH CENTURY; ADAPTED AS A GAMES TABLE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Non-invasive XRF examination of the bronze mounts indicates the alloy is consistent with those used in 18th-century work.

The Château de Saint Hubert was constructed for Louis XV between 1755 and 1758 by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-1782), adjacent to one of the royal hunting forests southwest of Paris. It was initially intended to serve as a hunting lodge to avoid relying on the hospitality of the King's cousin the Duc de Penthièvre at nearby Rambouillet. Between 1761 and 1772 it was continuously expanded to accommodate members of the Court accompanying the King on his frequent visits. Some of its original furnishings are documented, such as a pair of bergères and a firescreen supplied from a suite of seat furniture supplied by Foliot to the cabinet intérieur of the Comtesse du Barry in 1771 (now in the Petit Trianon; see P. Arrizoli-Clémentel, Versailles: Furniture of the Royal Palace, 17th and 18th Centuries, Vol. II, no.78-79 p.224-27).

After Louis XV's death in 1774, Louis XVI continued to use Saint Hubert for several years but found it incommodious, and in 1783 he purchased Rambouillet from the Duc de Penthièvre. Between 1784-86 Saint Hubert was gradually emptied of its contents, most going to Rambouillet but some pieces transferred to Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau and the Trianon. The château gradually fell into disrepair and was finally demolished in 1855.

In addition to the Saint Hubert mark, the table also bears the marks for the Petit Trianon and Queen Marie-Antoinette's own Garde-Meuble, a separate body from the official Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. Considered Gabriel's masterpiece, the Petit Trianon was built in the 1760s and given by Louis XVI to Marie-Antoinette upon his accession to the throne. The Queen used it as her private retreat from the formality of court life and had it re-furnished in the 1780s. Other pieces of furniture bearing both the Château de Trianon and Garde-Meuble de la Reine marks are recorded, including a sunflower and trellis-marquetry secretaire supplied by Riesener in 1783, now in the Wallace Collection (F302).

An inventory of Saint Hubert taken in 1762 records numerous small tables, including 18 tables à jeux, but the absence of any numbers makes precise identification difficult. The numbers next to the Trianon mark may have been obscured by the curious rectangular diagram resembling a domino, and again inventory references are inconclusive. As the archives for the Garde-Meuble de la Reine have not survived, it has not been possible thus far to establish where this table would have been placed or its original form in the 18th century. When it last appeared on the auction market in Lille in 1981, the catalogue entry described it as a table bureau altered in the 19th century, the photograph showing what appears to be a later top, subsequently modified.