1. Maryam Jalali
11/23/11
Survey I
Writing Table (table à écrire), 1784
Veneered on oak with mahogany, sycamore, ebony, and boxwood
Widener Collection, The National Gallery of Art Washington DC
1942.9.407
The eighteenth century was an era of heightened creativity in the arts due to the
phenomenal discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1749. These discoveries
influenced the intellectuals, artist and rulers of Europe on an unprecedented scale. The
remains of these two historical cities, astonishingly well preserved in the wake of the
eruption of Vesuvius in 74 A.D, presented a magnificent repertoire of art and architecture
in the second half of the seventeen hundreds. Thus a revival in classical motifs from
ancient Greece and Rome emerged, prompting the creation of the Neoclassical style.1
A noteworthy example of a decorative object made in the Neoclassical style is
Writing Table, made in 1784 by Jean-Henri Riesener, currently housed in the National
Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington DC, with a dimension of 76 x 81.8 x 49.1 cm. This
table was commissioned for the private chambers of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France,
at the Tuileries Palace. The authenticity of this piece is verified by the court inventory
numbers that were customarily inked underneath the tabletop.2
The table is quite delicate
and smaller in size compared to that of Louis XV’s Rocaille style. Exquisitely fine
Ormolu mounts flank the corners of the straight, faceted, and tapered legs ending in
acanthus-shaped foliage. Made of oak with a veneer of mahogany, sycamore, ebony, and
boxwood, the table displays multiple shades and grains of wood. A dark paneling of

2. wood surrounded by a contrasting layer of lighter wood is fitted inside the borders of the
mounts, emphasizing its delicacy. The surface of the table has an eye-catching trellis
pattern of interlacing bars of lightwood, lined on the insides by diamond-shaped darker
wood panels, and surrounded on three sides with a freestanding frieze of ormolu. There is
a writing slide to this desk that can be pulled out using two tiny handles on either side of
a centered ormolu motif depicting putti frolicking among clouds carrying flower garlands
and torches and playing musical instruments. This central motif is repeated on the three
remaining sides of the desk, of which two contain a small drawer. Ormolu mounts
decorated with a fluted pattern separated by single palmettes extend outwards on either
side of the central ormolu. The surface of the writing slide is covered with smooth
leather, but experts have detected residue of an original velvet surface.3
Even though
many different owners have owned the table after Marie Antoinette’s death in 1793, the
table remains in good condition.
It is necessary to note that Marie Antoinette’s younger sister was Queen Maria
Carolina of Naples, which placed her at the center of the Neapolitan discovery of
Pompeii and Herculaneum, and made her a major advocate of the Neoclassical style,
setting in motion an early influence on French designs. While furniture was heavier and
round-shaped with cabriole legs during the time of Louis XV, the neoclassical style
followed the delicate designs of the classical age. This table, typical of the neoclassical
style, is therefore far lighter and more compact and has straight legs, as inspired by the
designs of frescoes and objects found in the Bay of Naples.
The furniture makers of Bavaria were renowned for their skill in the kind of
marquetry that had become fashionable during 1740-1750 in Paris, and thus many of

3. them immigrated in search of work and higher pay.4
The German-born Riesener
immigrated to Paris in 1754 and began his apprenticeship in the workshop of a famous
German cabinetmaker named Jean-Francois Oeben, whose mastery of this style of
marquetry earned him the title Ebeniste du Roi.5
Oeben provided Riesener with the ideal
opportunity to flourish in the art of cabinetmaking for which the younger artisan had
demonstrated great talent.6
Upon Oeben’s death in 1763 Riesener was appointed head of
Oeben’s workshop by his widow, whom he later married.7
Marrying into a family of
multigenerational furniture-makers was extremely advantageous during the period,
affording a craftsman a bright future as a master, rather than remaining an apprentice.8
Riesener’s fame grew after Oeben’s death; his German heritage helped him gain the favor
of the German-speaking Marie Antoinette, and in due course he was named Ebeniste
Ordinaire du Roi in 1774.9
He became known for his signature style of floral and trellis
motifs in marquetry and gilt-bronze mounts.10
One of the earliest commissions he
received for the royal Garde Meuble was a series of four-cornered cupboards, intended
for the king’s Salons Des Jeux in Versailles.11
A Paris-based network of furniture dealers known as the Marchands Merciers
helped to maintain the high standards of the guild system.12
The furniture guilds of
France abided by a very strict system, whereby artisans specialized in various pieces of
furniture. Marchands Merciers stood as a separate entity from the guild system, higher in
rank, granted special privileges by King Charles IX since 1570. Merciers worked as a
‘merchant’s merchant,’ acting as middlemen in selling furniture pieces to high-profile
aristocratic clients until the time of the French Revolution and abolishment of the guild
system in 1791.13

4. In the writing table by Riesener, the ormolu was likely made by a master, in
accordance with the rules of the guild. Ormolu is a decorative term derived in the
eighteenth and early nineteenth century from the French word or meaning gold and
moulu meaning powdered.14
It generally consists of cast brass or bronze chased and
gilded through a firegilding process, in which the brass is covered with a gold mixture
that when heated leaves a surface layer of gold from the remains of the evaporating
mercury.15
As mentioned earlier, Riesener was best known for his marquetry, a technique
of wood manipulation involving overlaying several sheets of veneer of contrasting colors
to produce closely interlocking designs.16
Precise and intricate saws made it possible to
cut wood very accurately, thus substantially reducing time in labor. The designs were
first drawn on a thick durable paper, which were then pierced along the lines of the
design, and then placed on a clean sheet of white paper.17
They were then pounced with a
sac of colored powder, which would pass through the holes and onto the clean sheet. This
paper was eventually cut and placed on the thin panels of wood, which were then cut into
shape.18
There were two ways in which they could be glued onto the main structure:
hammer veneering, where dampened wood panels are placed onto a thin sheet of animal
glue and then heated into place with the use of an iron; and caul veneering, which was
developed as an easier way to press the veneers into place using clamps, also helping
squeeze out excess glue.19
Riesener liked to use trellis patterns on his furniture, and
probably employed one of the above techniques to achieve these patterns.20
Interestingly,
trellis patterns were very similar to Japanese lacquer, which was greatly in demand in
eighteenth- century Paris, and Oeben, Riesener’s master, was the first to incorporate them
into a purely French style.21
Riesener was dismissed from court in 1780, due to an

5. attempt in economizing on his designs; money was always an issue for craftsmen of the
time, there was always much that was owed to them.22
With the eruption of the French Revolution in 1789, the royal family was evicted
from Versailles and held in the Tuileries Palace –the original location of this desk.23
It is
believed that Marie Antoinette may have used this desk throughout her stay at Tuileries
until her removal to prison before being sent to the guillotine.24
Riesener had better luck;
he was called back to work, although he never achieved the same kind of popularity as he
had enjoyed prior to the revolution.25
This writing table traveled a long journey before ending up at the NGA. After
Marie Antoinette’s death and the auctioning of Versailles and the Tuileries, much of the
royal furniture ended up scattered across various countries. Richard Seymore-Conway,
the fourth Marquis of Hertford, purchased this table sometime between 1800-1870 as a
gift for his mistress Oger de Bréart in Paris.26
In 1886, gallery owner Louis Leboeuf de
Mongermont bought the piece and resold it in 1919 to New York collector Jacques
Seligmann.27
The table eventually wound up in the collection of Joseph E. Widener of
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania in 1923, who bequeathed it as a gift to the National Gallery of
Art in 1942.28
The importance of this piece lies in its high value, the intricate details and
refinement that the French achieved so nicely in the production of their furniture, as well
as the fact that it was owned and used by the Queen of France. With the abolition of the
guild system it took the French nearly a decade to redeem themselves as a ruling party in

6. the furniture business, but the glories of the Ancient Regimes lives on as a testament in
pieces of furniture such as this.

7.
1
Noel Riley, The Elements of Design (New York: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2003),
126.
2
Francis Watson, “Writing Table” (unpublished manuscript, NGA, November 24, 2011),
curatorial files.
3
Ibid.
4
Francis Watson, “The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Vol. 9.” A Note on French
Marquetry and Oriental Lacquer, (1981): 158, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4166453
(accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
5
Edwin J. Hipkiss, “Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 43.” Important Gifts of
French Decorative Arts, no. 252 (Jun., 1945), 2011: 23,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4170935 (accessed Nov. 22).
6
Monique Riccardi-Cubitt, The Art of The Cabinet (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.,
1992), 216.
7
Ibid.
8
Liana Vardi, “French Historical Studies, Vol. 15.” The Abolition of the Guilds During
the French Revolution, no. 4: 705-706, http://www.jstor.org/stable/286554 (accessed
Nov. 22, 2011).
9
Watson, A Note on French Marquetry and Oriental Lacquer, 161.
10
Riley, The Elements of Design, 130.
11
Watson, A Note on French Marquetry and Oriental Lacquer, 161.
12
Carolyn Sargentson, “Journal of Design History, Vol. 9.” Merchants and Luxury
Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century Paris, no. 4: 249,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1316046 (accessed Nov. 22, 2011). .
13
Pierre Verlet, “Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 13e Année.” Le Commerce Des
Objets D'art et les Marchands Merciers: à Paris au XVIIIe Siècle, no. 1, (Jan. - Mar.,
1958): 11, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27579924 (accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
14
Lucy Trench ed., Materials and Techniques in the Decorative Arts An Illustrated
Dictionary, (London: John Murray Publishers Ltd., 2000), 339-340.
15
Ibid., 166.
16
Ibid., 305-306.
17
Ibid., 307.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid., 307-308.
20
Watson, A Note on French Marquetry and Oriental Lacquer, 161.
21
Ibid.
22
Riley, The Elements of Design, 130.
23
Francis Watson, “Writing Table” (unpublished manuscript, NGA, November 24,
2011), curatorial files.
24
Ibid.
25
Hipkiss, Important Gifts of French Decorative Arts, 23.
26
Francis Watson, “Writing Table” (unpublished manuscript, NGA, November 24,
2011), curatorial files.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.

8.
Writing Table (table a ecrire), 1784. Jpg, http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-
bin/timage_f?object=1567&image=3015&c=gg14a: (accessed Nov 24, 2011).

10.
Bibliography:
Hipkiss, Edwin J.. “Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 43.” Important Gifts of
French Decorative Arts, no. 252 (Jun., 1945), 2011: 23,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4170935 (accessed Nov. 22).
Riccardi-Cubitt, Monique. The Art of The Cabinet. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.,
1992.
Riley, Noel. The Elements of Design. New York: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2003.
Sargentson, Carolyn. “Journal of Design History, Vol. 9”, Merchants and Luxury
Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century Paris, no. 4: 249,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1316046 (accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
Trench, Lucy, ed. Materials and Techniques in the Decorative Arts An Illustrated
Dictionary. London: John Murray Publishers Ltd., 2000.
Vardi, Liana. “French Historical Studies, Vol. 15”, The Abolition of the Guilds During
the French Revolution, no. 4: 705-706, http://www.jstor.org/stable/286554
(accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
Verlet, Pierre. “Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 13e Année”, Le Commerce Des
Objets D'art et les Marchands Merciers: à Paris au XVIIIe Siècle, no. 1, (Jan -
Mar, 1958): 11, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27579924 (accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
Watson, Francis. “The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Vol. 9,” A Note on French
Marquetry and Oriental Lacquer, (1981): 158,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4166453 (accessed Nov. 22, 2011).
— “Writing Table” (unpublished manuscript, National Gallery of Art, November 24,
2011), curatorial files.