A LARGE FRENCH GILTWOOD CENTRE-TABLE

This centre-table relates closely to a console attributed to sculptor Jule Degoullons and supplied in 1713 for the Château de Bercy. Together with his atelier of André and Mathieu Legoupil, Marin Bellan and Pierre Taupin, Degoullons was responsible for much of the carved panelling and related furniture supplied to Charles-Henri II de Malon de Bercy, between 1712 and 1714. At the four-day auction of the contents of Château de Bercy in 1860, the table was purchased by Napoleon III and placed in the national collection (see Bill G. B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Paris, 1993, Vol. II, pp. 36-39). The model became very popular with Parisian ébénistes towards the end of the 19th century, and among others was copied by François Linke. See Christie's East, New York, 24 May 1993, lot 338 for an example by the latter supplied for the Grosvenor Square home of Elias Meyer.