Dressing table (Table à dessus brisé), of tulipwood with marquetry panels of flowers, the table raised on shallow cabriole legs, the body of serpentin form on both longer sides, the top in three sections, with a hinged easel mirror in the centre, and compartments beneath hinged lids to either side. The table is set with a drawer beneath the compartment for the mirror and with a shallow drawer to the right of this, fitted for writing.

Dressing table, veneered in tulipwood and other woods forming floral marquetry panels, on a carcase of oak and pine. The table has been heavily restored and altered in the 1830s.
The table is raised on square-sectioned cabriole legs, veneered with tulipwood set diagonally on the outer faces and horizontally on the inner, the feet with gilt-bronze sabots, the outer corners of the legs set with a wooden quarter-round moulding in place of a long mount.
The body of the table is veneered with diagonally-set tulipwood, the sides with shaped marquetry panels of flowers against a tulipwood ground, the panels outlined with a string in pale wood. On the front two such panels flank a central drawer with similar marquetry, below a narrow panel with diagonally-set marquetry in opposition to the main ground. The drawer front is set proud of the main carcase with quadrant-moulded edges. At the right side of the front the lower side of the marquetry panel conceals a drawer, set with a central brass knob against a rayed collar. The back is veneered with vertically-set amaranth, framing a shaped panel of diagonally-set satiné outlined with pale stringing. The lower edge of the carcase of the table is very serpentine in elevation, but in plan the sides are completely flat. The front is on a carcase of oak, red-stained, but the back and sides are on pine, similarly stained.
The top is serpentine in plan on the front and back edges, in 3 sections, the outer two hingeing outwards to reveal box sections. Each section is set on the outside with a shaped panel of floral marquetry (re-inked) on a ground of diagonally-set tulipwood, separated by a pale stringing from a frame (deeper on the front and back edges) of bois satiné, set long-grain.
The inner surfaces of the side hinged sections are veneered with bird's eye maple and show large brass hinges that are clearly of the nineteenth century. The tops of the box sections are veneered with diagonally set tulipwood within a frame of bois satiné, with boxwood stringing. These tops are hinged at the back and lift with leather thongs at the front. The interiors of the lids are similarly veneered to the tops. The left hand compartment lifts out to reveal a panelled carcase of oak and pine (showing much evidence of alteration and red staining). The box is of oak, with inset base of coarse pine (replacement). The interior is lined in the upper two thirds with blue paper edged with metal thread braid (the lower section must have been occupied with another removeable box). The lid is lined with padded blue silk taffeta, bordered with the same braid. It shows retaining cords of blue cotton. The right hand compartment is fully lined in the same manner. The centre of the table hinges back to reveal a portrait panel in pastel and, beneath that, under another leaf faced with bird's eye maple, a mirror, set within a frame of semi-circular section. The frame of the portrait appears to be the original mirror frame. The lower drawer on the right is of oak, dove-tailed, with a recessed base, fitted with three compartments at the front for writing equipment. The small brass knob shows a knurled backplate. The centre drawer is of similar construction with a lidded compartment hinged about a third of the depth forward. This is veneered with bois satiné surrounding green leather (19th century). This drawer has no functioning stops.

The Bettine, Lady Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole

One of a large number of pieces of French furniture, ceramics, metalwork, books and other decorative arts, from the late Empire period and earlier, acquired in Paris by Sir Charles Stuart (from 1828 1st Lord Stuart de Rothesay) (1779-1845). The Empire furnishings were probably purchased during his first period of ambassador in Paris (1815-1824), the earlier furnishings, like this table, during his second embassy (1828-1830). The Empire furnishings may have been intended for a London house. He acquired 4 Carlton House Terrace and work there continued from 1827 to 1831 and into which he moved in 1834. Older pieces, like this one, were probably purchased for his country house, Highcliffe Castle, Hampshire (now Dorset), which was re-modelled and enlarged in the most ambitious Gothic style from 1830-1834, with some work continuing throughout the 1830s. In 1841 the Carlton Terrace House was let. The family moved their London residence to Whitehall Yard. It is possible that 1841 (or 1845, the date of Lord Stuart de Rothesay's death) may be the date when the Empire furnishings were moved to Highcliffe.
Lord Stuart de Rothesay's collections were inherited in 1845 by his wife, Lady Elisabeth Stuart de Rothesay (née Yorke). After her death, Highcliffe House and its content passed to his second daughter, Louise, Lady Waterford (1818-1891) who maintained Highcliffe. She left the house and its collections to to her distant cousin, Major-General Edward Stuart Wortley (1857-1934). When his younger daughter Elizabeth ('Bettine') married Montagu Bertie, 8th Earl of Abingdon in 1928, he bought the castle and its content from his father-in-law. The Abingdons sold Highcliffe and most of its contents in 1949 but retained this piece, and all other pieces, of the group which became the V&A Hole bequest. After her husband's death in 1963, Lady Abingdon lived much of the time with her close friends, Mr and Mrs Tahu Hole, to whom she bequeathed all her personal possessions on her death in 1978. Tahu Hole died in 1985 and a year later his widow Joyce approached the Museum and offered the collection as a bequest. She died in December 1986 and, in accordance with her will, the Museum chose those items that it wished to add to its collections. Other items from the collection were sold to benefit the Museum and the proceeds added to the funds bequeathed.

The dressing-table has undergone at least one major overhaul, and the nature and thoroughness of the work suggest that it is likely to have been done in the 1830s, perhaps by James Nixon for Lord Stuart de Rothesay. The carcase of the piece has been re-built to a large degree with a straighter plan, and the marquetry has been re-applied. The internal structure of the two hinged flaps, with a mirror set beneath a panel displaying an 18th-century pastel portrait of an unknown man, has no precedent in the 18th century and suggests the sentimental idea of hidden portraits which is more in keeping with the taste of the 19th-century collector. The use of bird's-eye maple as a lining veneer to the flaps is also an indicator of the extent of work in the 1830s, and the presence of a single-throw lock is equally indicative of English work. The marquetry has been scraped to improve the colour and the detail of the engraving is re-inked.

Historical significance: Jean-Georges Schlichtig (fl./ 1765-1782) was one of the many German immigrant cabinet-makers who flourished in Paris in the second half of the 18th century. He was in his 40s when he gained his mâitrise and established himself in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, later moving to the rue Saint-Nicolas, where his widow continued his workshop until 1787 (a few years after his death). He worked for Marie Antoinette on at least one occasion, providing a commode in the Transitional style, a style for which he is best known.

Later alterations

This dressing-table, originally made in Paris around 1760-1770, has undergone at least one major overhaul. The carcase has been substantially rebuilt with a straighter plan, and the marquetry has been reapplied. The centre panel on the top is mounted with a mirror on the underside (normal for 18th-century dressing-tables); but over this has been placed a panel with a pastel portrait (of an unidentified man). No other 18th-century pieces like this are known; and the sentimental idea of a hidden portrait is more suggestive of the taste of a 19th-century collector. This thorough transformation was probably carried out in the 1830s, around the time that the table was acquired by Lord Stuart de Rothesay, who was twice ambassador to Paris (1815-1824 and 1828-1830). He probably purchased the table to furnish his country house, Highcliffe Castle in Dorset, which he remodelled and enlarged between 1830 and 1834.

W.19:1 to 4-1987