A LARGE FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY CENTER TABLE

This palatial center table is closely related to an example acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in 1853 after the sale of the collection of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn at Bentley Priory, now part of the Wallace Collection, London (F320). Though remarkably similar, the Wallace desk is larger than the present table and its frieze adorned with further oak-leaf swags to complement the those on the legs. Recorded in the Large Drawing Room at Hertford House in 1870 as a ‘Costly Centre Writing Table, Louis XVI finely mounted in chased ormolu with drawers, top covered with velvet', the Wallace table was loaned to the pioneering exhibition at Bethnal Green, London from 1872 to 1875, where it was almost certainly admired and meticulously studied for reproduction by burgeoning ébénistes of the Belle Epoque, such as Dasson, Sormani, Beurdeley and their contemporaries.