The Louis XV writing table pre-empted by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux for €150,000 (£130,435) in a sale at Peschetau Badin.
A writing table made for Louis XV by the celebrated French ébéniste Jean-Henri Riesener will be returning to the building that served as a royal repository for furniture where it was housed for a number of years in the late 18th century.
Riesener produced the table in 1771 for the king to use at Le Petit Trianon, the small château in Versailles where his mistress Madame du Barry resided during the final years of his reign.
The writing table, which is veneered in satinwood and sycamore with a marquetry design, has a frieze drawer which opens to reveal a writing slide and small drawers. It was installed on the first floor and was set into the wainscotting behind which was a staircase allowing the king to discreetly access Madame du Barry’s apartment.
When Marie Antoinette later redesigned the Petit Trianon, the table was moved to the Garde Meuble de la Couronne (the royal furniture repository charged with fitting out the royal palaces and maintaining their furnishings) which was situated in a palatial building, the Hôtel de La Marine, set on one side of what is now the Place de la Concorde.
The table was restored in 1788 by Guillaume Benneman and it is thought to have remained at the repository until the Revolutionary sales of 1793.
It was offered at the Drouot auction hub on December 12 by Pescheteau-Badin (30% buyer’s premium) and was knocked down at €150,000 (£130,435), the lower end of its €150,000-200,000 estimate, at which point it was pre-empted by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux on behalf of the Hôtel de la Marine.
The hôtel has recently undergone an extensive restoration project and is now open to the public.
£1 = €1.15
