Inlaid writing table with "satiné gris" geometric lattice de - Lot 146

Inlaid writing table with "satiné gris" geometric lattice decoration in stained sycamore, opening to a drawer with inlaid child astronomers, the sliding drawer revealing a writing tablet concealing three rosewood compartments containing four solid rosewood drawers, the gallery top resting on sheathed legs surmounted by brettés at the corners n° painted in ink underneath: N°2605; (trace of a mechanism to operate the drawer now missing). By Jean-Henri Riesener and Guillaume Benneman (as restorer). Stamped by Guillaume Benneman. Louis XV period, delivered to the Château de Trianon in 1771, then extensively restored in 1788 under the direction of the Garde-meuble de la Couronne. Provenance: Delivered for King Louis XV (1710-1774) by Jean Henri Riesener (1734-1806; cabinetmaker received master in 1768) to the Château de Trianon in 1771, kept in the Hôtel du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne in Paris between 1776 and 1786, restored and delivered by Guillaume Benneman (died 1811; ébéniste reçu maître en 1785) for the apartments of Madame de Ville d'Avray in the Hôtel du Garde Meuble de la Couronne place de la Concorde in 1788, an antique dealer on the Quai Voltaire in Paris, circa 1938, sale Paris, étude Jozon, March 13, 1974, former collection of Maurice Aicardi (1919-2007) in his Palais Royal apartment in Paris. Bibliography: Pierre Verlet, Le mobilier royal français, tome IV, Paris, 1990, p. 62-65. Succeeding Antoine Robert Gaudreaus (1682-1746) and Gilles Joubert (1689-1775), Jean Henri Riesener and Guillaume Benneman were respectively the Crown's appointed cabinetmakers from 1774 to 1785 for Riesener and from 1786 to 1792 for Benneman. The history of this royal writing table in the 18th century is well known since the research of Pierre Verlet (Le mobilier royal français, tome IV, Paris, 1990, p. 62-65), who identified it around 1938 in an antique shop on the Quai Voltaire in Paris. Delivered on the orders of Pierre Elisabeth de Fontanieu (1731-1784), Intendant des meubles de la Couronne, to the Château de Trianon on March 22, 1771, the piece required two days on site for Jean Henri Riesener's workers to install it in the "pièce du café", located in the northeast corner of the château. At the time, the panelling in this intimate first-floor room concealed an arched staircase leading to the attic floor. The only window to the left of the staircase looked directly onto the flower garden, one of the most beautiful in Europe at the time. one of the most beautiful in Europe at the time, making it a pleasant place to rest. As early as 1768, Madame du Barry (1743-1793), recently presented to the Court, began to occupy an attic apartment at Trianon, which explains the importance of the small staircase that enabled Louis XV, on leaving his bedroom (the former study), to reach his new favorite via the staircase in the café room. In 1769 or 1770, the King installed the Comtesse du Barry in her own room and lived in the attics himself, using the same staircase to reach his apartments. H: 76.5 cm, W: 96 cm, D: 63 cm At this time, between 1771 and 1774, when Louis XV was at his table, to his left lay the garden and beyond it the greenhouses, behind him the salon de compagnie and to his right, against the wall, a gros de Tours sofa, behind this wall Madame du Barry's bedroom. This mechanical table had been specially made to suit a very particular location: "dessous une table de marbre et dans le lambrie (sic)" (Riesener invoice). A niche in the woodwork concealing the staircase featured a marble shelf at support height, which in fact served as the tabletop for our table, itself entirely recessed in the woodwork and used to open the sliding drawer containing the writing desk. The café room (E), with its staircase leading up to the attic and window overlooking the garden, communicates on the right with the king's study (E), which became Louis XV's bedroom and then Madame du Barry's bedroom. Jean Henri Riesener's invoice, dated February 5, 1771, mentions a large body of drawers sliding with a mechanism (missing today) operated by a turn of a key, as well as a knob to open the shutters, still in place today. The café room was converted in 1776 to become the present "boudoir des glaces mouvantes", which is why the writing table, having outlived its usefulness in the wood panelling embrasure of the vanished staircase, was sent back to Paris to the Garde-meuble. It remained there for ten years before being restored by Guillaum