- Table à la Bourgogne, Jean François Oeben
- Veneer of satin-wood, violet-wood, sycamore and kingwood; gilded bronze; Griotte Rouge marble
H. 1.43 m; W. 0.70 m; D. 0.51 m
A complex geometric veneer
Oeben’s virtuoso furniture is characterized by highly inventive forms and an equally innovative use of veneer. The geometric designs on the exterior of this Burgundy-style table are complemented by friezes on the inside. At the end of Louis XV’s reign, the highly fashionable Transition style featured background designs based on the repetition of a geometric figure. Oeben specialized in veneers based on a cube motif, using diamond-shaped pieces of different-colored woods to create an illusion of endless rows of three-dimensional blocks.
A remarkable mechanism
Oeben’s description of the table as « Burgundy-style » recalls the disability of the young duke of Burgundy, eldest grandson of Louis XV (1751-60), for whom the cabinetmaker had already produced a mechanized invalid chair. When closed, this « table » looks like a chest of five drawers. However, the operation of a crank causes a hidden bookcase to rise out of the top.The curved ends of the bookcase contain folding circular shelves lined with blue moiré, supporting two round boxes covered in the same fabric. The two top drawers in fact form a drop front that can be lowered into a small writing table. The bottom drawer converts into a prie-dieu (prayer-stool) and the drawer just above it can be used as a bedside table. This drawer may also be taken out completely and placed on folding feet. The Burgundy-style table can thus act as a bookcase, prie-dieu, writing-desk and bedside table.
