A French gilt-bronze mounted mahogany centre table, early 20th century, after a model by Adam Weisweiler

A Noble Family;

By inheritance to the present owner.

This exceptional table is after a model by the celebrated Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), delivered in 1784 by the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. It was placed in Marie Antoinette's cabinet intérieur at Château de Saint-Cloud and was subsequently gifted to her close friend, Madame de Polignac (now at the Musée du Louvre, inv. nr. OA5509). Influencing fashion as she had a century earlier, Marie Antoinette was again à la mode during the last quarter of the 19th century. Her table was manufactured by a number of preeminent Parisian ébénistes who specialized in meubles de style, including Henry Dasson's contemporaries, Alfred Beurdeley, François Linke, and Paul Sormani.

Whilst the present is clearly based after Marie Antoinette’s table, there are notable variations which contribute to making this lot quite rare and impressive, namely:

-the inclusion of a top, devoid of a pierced gallery, veneered with the mesmerising gemstones tiger's eye and blue tiger's eye, instead of Japanese lacquer in the 18th century example

-variations in the design of the gilt-bronze mounts along the frieze

-winged female figures instead of simple female supports

-a refined stretched connecting directly the four legs from the centre, instead of an intertwined scheme

-tapered feet enveloped with stylized foliage, instead of spirally-fluted feet.

Skillfully re-imagining Weisweiler’s model, this table is clearly a strong statement by its maker.