Rare coffee table inlaid on all sides, the top... Lot 13

Rare coffee table inlaid on all sides, the top with Greek or cartouche reserves containing in the center a landscape of architectural ruins in the antique style; the lateral reserves with attributes of Hunting or Love standing out on tobacco wood backgrounds. on tobacco wood backgrounds; rosewood frieze surrounds. The belts feature perspective landscapes animated by architectures in a wooded environment with rivers. Rectangular in shape, the top slides open to reveal a wide drawer with two compartments inlaid with urns, framing a mobile tray upholstered in havana leather with gilded vignettes. The ormolu belted top and slightly and slightly arched legs ending in leafy sabots. Stamped by Ph. Pasquier. Transitional Louis XV-Louis XVI period (minor restorations). Philippe Pasquier, cabinetmaker received master in 1760. H. 79 cm - W. 71 cm - D. 40 cm Provenance : Collection of Monsieur D. Bibliography: P. Kjellberg, Le mobilier français de XVIIIe siècle, Dictionnaire des ébénistes et des menuisiers, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, our table reproduced p. 680. This type of mechanical table, known as "à deux fins", with a sliding top that reveals a writing desk and compartments for writing and dressing, seems to have been developed in Paris around the middle of the 18th century by Roger Vandercruse's brother-in-law, Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763). Indeed, we know of a number of tables of this model with tables of this model, with more or less sophisticated mechanisms and often particularly elaborate inlaid decorations; among the known examples, let's particularly mention a first one formerly in the Didier Aaron collection and a second one preserved in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon; both respectively illustrated in R. Stratmann-Döhler, Jean-François Oeben 1721-1763, Les éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2002, p.95 and 133. The model we present bears the stamp of Philippe Pasquier, a brilliant maker who held the title of Ebéniste du Prince de Condé. After becoming a master on July 23, 1760, Philippe Pasquier set up his workshop on rue Boucherat, then rue des Fossoyeurs-Saint-Sulpice, now rue Servandoni, and built up a clientele that included the Prince de Condé, as well as the Countess du Barry, for whom the cabinetmaker is also said to have worked. Pasquier favored geometric, trophy and landscape marquetry, and also produced more sober pieces of furniture, such as an ebony and yew veneered commode formerly in the Charles de Beistegui collection at the Palazzo Labia in Venice, or ornate pieces such as a secretary painted with flowers and allegorical figures cited by the Comte de Salverte. After his death in 1783, his widow continued to run the workshop until the French Revolution. Last but not least, a piece of furniture by the cabinetmaker is in the Kress collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The deliberately uncluttered composition of the table we are proposing is intended to highlight its rich, particularly elaborate inlaid decoration, inspired more or less directly by engraved plates from the Cinquième Livre des trophées by Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1789). This same marquetry is found with certain variations on a few other rare tables, including one stamped Dautriche, formerly in the collection of Claude Cartier (Sotheby's sale, Monaco, November 25, 1979, lot 143), as well as on a second anonymous table in the Rothschild collection in Würzburg. Rothschild collections at Waddesdon Manor (see G. de Bellaigue. The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and gilt bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, Vol. II, n°102, p.498-503). Finally, it should be noted that two other tables with identical inlaid tops are listed: the first belongs to the collections of the California Palace of Legion of Honor in San Francisco (Inv.1926.103), the second is on display at the J Paul Getty Museum in Malibu (illustrated in G. Wilson, Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1977, n°93, p.68-69).