A Pair of Louis XVI Demi-Lune Burr Yew, Mahogany and Ebonized Side Tables, Last Quarter 18th Century

Acquired by Carlos de Beistegui (1895-1970), Château de Groussay, from the Galerie J. E. Mercadé, 23 quai Voltaire, Paris in 1941

By descent to his nephew Juan de Beistegui (1930-2017), Château de Groussay

Sold Sotheby's France, Château de Groussay, 3 June 1999, lot 700;

Christopher Gibbs, London

Born in Paris to Mexican parents of Spanish origin, Carlos de Beistegui inherited his family's mining fortune and became a great art collector. In 1939 he acquired the Château de Groussay at Montfort-l'Amaury, west of Versailles, that had been built in 1815, and commissioned the Franco-Cuban architect and designer Emilio Terry to enlarge and furnish the property. In 1948 Beistegui also acquired the baroque Palazzo Labia on the Grand Canal in Venice, where in 1951 he held the Bal Oriental, arguably the most celebrated social event of the second half of the 20th century.

After Beistegui's death Groussay was inherited by his brother and subsequently his nephew, who sold the property and its contents in a landmark Sotheby's sale in 1999, which set a record for the most valuable auction at the time.

The distinctively figured and coloured veneers are also seen on work by the ébéniste du prince de Condé Philippe Pasquer (maître 1760, d. 1783), including a secrétaire à abattant from the Kress Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (58.75.120) and a pair of encoignures sold Sotheby's Paris, 13 November 2018, lot 42. According to Salverte, Richard Forster is recorded in the Rue des Fossoyeurs near St Sulpice in Paris (now the Rue Servandoni) in Paris in 1789 and closing his workshop two years later.