Work and writing table

This work and writing table has a rectangular top with serpentine sides supported by four tapering cabriole legs, joined midway by a shelf. On the right side are two small drawers, the upper one fitted with a hinged panel that has a silk-lined writing surface; the lower one has three compartments fitted with metal liners for ink, sand, and a sponge. The shaped top is inlaid with floral vines tied at the base with a ribbon enclosed within a double shaped and scrolled frame, the top with a gilt-bronze border. The sides are veneered with shaped panels enclosing floral vines against a ground of mahogany tied similarly to the top with a ribbon at the base. The legs are each mounted above the knee with a gilt-bronze acanthus-leaf cartouche. A narrow gilt-bronze molding runs along the inner side of each leg and continues along the under fore-edge of the upper part. The shelf is veneered with a floral composition similar to that on the top and is enclosed within a narrower double shaped and scrolled frame, with a gilt-bronze border comparable to that of the top. Each leg terminates at the foot with a scrolled and foliated cartouche. Little is known about Laurent Rochette, who is recorded by Salverte as receiving his royal brevet ébéniste privilégié suivant la cour in 1750.(1) He first worked in the rue de Charonne, then had a shop in which he sold furniture in the rue Saint-Antoine, near the church of Saint-Paul-Saint Louis, until the end of the Louis XV period. His trade card on this table appears to be the only documented example.

Catalogue entry from: William Rieder. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 262-63.



NOTE:
1. Salverte, Francois de, comte. Les ébénistes du XVIIIe siecle: Leurs oeuvres et leurs marques. 5th ed. Paris, 1962, p. 285.

[René Weiller, Paris]; [Hans Stiebel, Paris]. Acquired by Robert Lehman through Stiebel in April 1956.