Table thumbnail 1
Table thumbnail 2
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Not currently on display at the V&A

Table

ca. 1770 (made), ca. 1872-5 (altered), 1759 (manufactured), 1759 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This small table carries the stamp of Pierre Garnier, who became a master cabinet-maker in Paris in 1742, but it has had a chequered career since it left his workshop. Its current appearance was probably created in London in about 1872–75, when the table and drawer unit that he had made was given new, and probably more decorative, legs and was fitted with a porcelain plaque made in the French royal factory at Sèvres in 1759. From the 1820s there was a growing and lucrative trade in London in French 18th-century furniture, and workshops soon became adept at creating new and more elaborate pieces, using elements of original furniture and adding both new and antique elements. John Jones, who bequeathed a large collection of furniture, including this piece, to the Museum, was particularly interested in porcelain-mounted furniture but, like many 19th-century collectors, was sometimes taken in by made-up pieces.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Drawer
  • Table
Materials and techniques
Oak, purplewood and mahogany, veneered with mahogany, purplewood and ebony; verre églomisé; soft-past Sèvres porcelain decorated in enamels and gilding; Carrara marble; mounts of gilt bronze
Brief description
Veneered in purpleheart and other woods on a carcase of oak; mounted with glass panels, a Sèvres porcelain plaque and with gilt-bronze mounts; the lower shelf of Carrara marble. Partly French, ca. 1770, re-built ca. 1872-5 in London
Physical description
Carcase of oak, purplewood and mahogany, veneered with mahogany, purplewood and ebony; set with plaques of verre églomisé; top set with a tray of soft-past Sèvres porcelain decorated in enamels and gilding; lower shelf of Carrara marble; mounts of gilt bronze
Dimensions
  • Height: 68.6cm
  • Width: 40.6cm
  • Depth: 29.8cm
  • Porcelain plaque width: 32.4cm
  • Porcelain plaque depth: 26.7cm
  • Porcelain plaque thickness: 2.5cm
Dimensions of table taken from departmental catalogues. Not checked on object. Dimensions of Sèvres plaque taken from Carolyn Sargentson's catalogue
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • P. GARNIER (Stamped 3 times beneath side and back rails)
  • Crossed L's enclosing the letter 'G' (Painted in overglaze blue on the back of the porcelain plaque. 'G' is the date letter for 1759)
  • A blue crescent (Painter's mark attributed to Jean-Pierre Ledoux (painter of landscapes and birds at Sèvres 1758-62))
  • 'bp' (Incised at the front PR on reverse of porcelain plaque)
Credit line
Bequeathed by John Jones
Object history
In the collection of John Jones before 1882
Production
The top section of this table probably dates from about 1770 and the stamp of Pierre Garnier, which it carries, is probably authentic, but the history of alteration and embellishment of this piece makes dating and identification extremely difficult. The main plaque, of Sèvres porcelain, is dated 1759, and this appears to be an authentic mark, although it is likely that this was added to the table, probably in London in about 1872-5, when the legs were replaced, the lower shelf added and other alterations made. Garnier is not known to have used porcelain plaques in any other piece of furniture. The porcelain plaque carries the mark attributed to the painter Jean-Pierre Ledoux
Subject depicted
Summary
This small table carries the stamp of Pierre Garnier, who became a master cabinet-maker in Paris in 1742, but it has had a chequered career since it left his workshop. Its current appearance was probably created in London in about 1872–75, when the table and drawer unit that he had made was given new, and probably more decorative, legs and was fitted with a porcelain plaque made in the French royal factory at Sèvres in 1759. From the 1820s there was a growing and lucrative trade in London in French 18th-century furniture, and workshops soon became adept at creating new and more elaborate pieces, using elements of original furniture and adding both new and antique elements. John Jones, who bequeathed a large collection of furniture, including this piece, to the Museum, was particularly interested in porcelain-mounted furniture but, like many 19th-century collectors, was sometimes taken in by made-up pieces.
Collection
Accession number
1069:1 to 2-1882

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Record createdMay 19, 2008
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