Table à toutes fins (all-purpose table)

Table à toutes fins (all-purpose table)
Jacques Bircklé (1734-1803), cabinetmaker
Macassar ebony, rosewood, amaranth, box, maple, acacia, pear, kingwood
Xavier Houppe bequest, 1924
Inv. 23964
© Photo MAD, Paris / Jean Tholance

If you want to use this picture, please contact our library

This all-purpose table is an example of a new category of relatively light furniture. These pieces of furniture with varied forms and uses were a response to the dictates of a new sociability, combined with a desire for intimacy. The marquetry decoration evokes the English-style gardens dear to Marie-Antoinette, such as those at the Petit Trianon, designed by Richard Mique in the late 1770s.