Writing Table
1765-1770 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The marquetry on this table imitates that on a group of similar tables made in Paris in the late 1760s. However, although its ambitious design includes flowers, landscapes and a medallion with the head of a woman, it is of less good quality than the marquetry on the other pieces. François Bayer may have deliberately copied a style of decoration that had been developed by better known cabinet-makers.
In 1883, a year after the table had been bequeathed by John Jones, the Museum's handbook identified the medallion head of a woman as 'the late Princess Sophia', the fifth daughter of Louis XV, who died in 1782. In fact the woman's head is too generalised to be identified, but the romantic wish to link such a table with the pre-Revolutionary French monarchy was typical of collectors and museums in the 19th century.
In 1883, a year after the table had been bequeathed by John Jones, the Museum's handbook identified the medallion head of a woman as 'the late Princess Sophia', the fifth daughter of Louis XV, who died in 1782. In fact the woman's head is too generalised to be identified, but the romantic wish to link such a table with the pre-Revolutionary French monarchy was typical of collectors and museums in the 19th century.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 4 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Veneered in purplewood and stained sycamore, with marquetry of several woods, with ivory, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, on a carcase of oak and pine, with gilt-bronze mounts |
| Brief description | Veneered in purpleheart and sycamore, with marquetry of several woods, ivory, mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, with gilt-bronze mounts |
| Physical description | A small writing table with a shaped top, underneath which is a drawer fitted for writing materials, sitting on carved legs. The top and legs decorated in marquetry of tulipwood,kingwood, satinwood and other woods. The top is decorated with a female head shown within a medallion. a landscape scene with shepherd and sprays of flowers. The top is banded with ormolu and a pierced ormolu gallery and the legs with ormolu mounts. A stamp under the drawer rail at the end is stamped F.BAYER JME. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | F.BAYER JME |
| Gallery label | [Label text by Peter Thornton]
Lady's Writing Desk
French (Paris); 1770-75
Stamped 'F. Bayer' and 'J.M.E.'
Veneered with kingwood, inlaid with marquetry of various woods. Mounts of lacquered brass. Some casters of later date were removed in 1971
Francois Bayer became a master in 1764. The marquetry decoration, withits classical details, suggests a date erarly in the 1770s. Bayer may have been related to a contemporary, S. E. Beyer, cabinet-maker to the Electoral Court at Ansbach, who made a rather similar table now in the Residenz in that city.
Jones Collection
Museum No. 1065-1882(1980) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | In the collection of John Jones before 1882 |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | The marquetry on this table imitates that on a group of similar tables made in Paris in the late 1760s. However, although its ambitious design includes flowers, landscapes and a medallion with the head of a woman, it is of less good quality than the marquetry on the other pieces. François Bayer may have deliberately copied a style of decoration that had been developed by better known cabinet-makers. In 1883, a year after the table had been bequeathed by John Jones, the Museum's handbook identified the medallion head of a woman as 'the late Princess Sophia', the fifth daughter of Louis XV, who died in 1782. In fact the woman's head is too generalised to be identified, but the romantic wish to link such a table with the pre-Revolutionary French monarchy was typical of collectors and museums in the 19th century. |
| Bibliographic reference | W.G. Paulson Townsend, Measured drawings of French furniture in the South Kensington Museum (London 1899),part 9, plates 82-4 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1065:1 to 3-1882 |
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| Record created | February 7, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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