LADIES' WRITING TABLE (PETIT TABLE À ÉCRIRE)
Creator(s): Pierre Roussel (Cabinet Maker)
On view in: French Drawing Room
About this object
The table is rectangular with bombé sides standing on cabriole feet. The top and all the four sides are covered with pictorial marquetry. Panels of marquetry on the front drawer and sides feature naively rendered village scenes. At the top is a busy harbor scene with several popular types at work, among them a seller of melons, and a young boy with a donkey poking a hole at a women's basket. At sea there are several boats, a light house, and an island. The faces and some architectural details are done in ivory. The legs have strips of marquetry done imitating marble; these are mounted at the top with satyrs’ masks and taper down to leafy sabots. The top slides back to reveal a drawer fitted with a writing pad of tooled leather and compartments to hold writing implements.
- Object name:
- LADIES' WRITING TABLE (PETIT TABLE À ÉCRIRE)
- Made from:
- Wood marquetry -- gilt bronze -- ivory -- mother of pearl
- Made in:
- Paris, France
- Date made:
- c. 1770
- Size:
- 73.7 × 76.8 × 43.2 cm (29 × 30 1/4 × 17 in.)
Detailed information for this item
- Catalog number:
- 31.30
- Class:
- FURNITURE
- Signature marks:
- STAMP Roussel [On the underside of the skirt at the left] LABEL Label inside stated that table came from collection of Sir Francis Montefiore Worth Park Sussex
- Credit line:
- Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973