Reading Stand thumbnail 1
Reading Stand thumbnail 2
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Reading Stand

ca. 1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This table is one of a series that were made in the 1770s and 1780s by the French cabinetmaker Martin Carlin for Dominique Daguerre, a marchand-mercier (member of a Parisian guild of merchants selling luxury goods). Though they did function as music stands or writing tables, they were essentially decorative pieces. They appear to have been designed specifically for a female clientele and for the small rooms such as boudoirs that fashionable women of the time decorated to their personal taste. Many of the tables were decorated with porcelain plaques or, as here, with panels of Japanese lacquer. These materials were very expensive and it would have been Daguerre who bore the capital cost of ordering the porcelain or buying the lacquer, supplying the panels to the cabinetmaker.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Reading Stand
  • Key
  • Fragments
Materials and techniques
Oak veneered with Japanese lacquer and <i>vernis Martin</i>, with gilt-bronze mounts
Brief description
French, Paris, 1770-90, by Martin Carlin, veneered in Japanese lacquer

to reading stand; French, 1770-90, old
Physical description
Small writing and work table, of oak veneered with ebony, ebonized wood, black and gold Japanese lacquer and aventurine vernis Martin (a French imitation of lacquer). The table has a single drawer below a top surface that can be raised to provide a reading slope. The legs are joined below by a shelf of white Carrarra marble and the table is set with gilt-bronze mounts.
Dimensions
  • Height: 78.7cm
  • Width: 45.8cm
  • Depth: 34.5cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • M. CARLIN (Stamped under the right (proper left) side rail)
  • JME (Stamped under right (proper left) side rail This is the mark of the juré des menuisiers-ébénistes, the ruling committee of the cabinet-making guild in Paris)
Gallery label
LADY'S WRITING DESK AND READING-STAND FRENCH (Paris); about 1780 Oak veneered with panels of Japanese lacquer. The drawer contains a writing-slide masking compartments for inkwell and pounce-pot, and the hinged reading-stand is spring operated. Stamped M. Carlin Martin Carlin became a maitre ébéniste in 1776 and died in 1785. He is known to have produced many small and expensively decorated tables of this type for sale in shops of dealers like Daguerre and his predecessor and business partner Simon-Philippe Poirier, whose premises lay in the fashionable Rue Saint-Honoré. Temporary label 1028-1882(01/01/2001)
Credit line
Bequeathed by John Jones
Summary
This table is one of a series that were made in the 1770s and 1780s by the French cabinetmaker Martin Carlin for Dominique Daguerre, a marchand-mercier (member of a Parisian guild of merchants selling luxury goods). Though they did function as music stands or writing tables, they were essentially decorative pieces. They appear to have been designed specifically for a female clientele and for the small rooms such as boudoirs that fashionable women of the time decorated to their personal taste. Many of the tables were decorated with porcelain plaques or, as here, with panels of Japanese lacquer. These materials were very expensive and it would have been Daguerre who bore the capital cost of ordering the porcelain or buying the lacquer, supplying the panels to the cabinetmaker.
Collection
Accession number
1028-1882

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Record createdApril 10, 2001
Record URL
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