Writing table known as "Pompadour style" stamped Léonard Boudin

A lady's writing table, known as a "Pompadour table," entirely decorated with geometric marquetry of cubes and a landscape with figures and architectural elements within a reserve on the top, as well as mother-of-pearl inlays on the front.

The upper surface slides open, revealing a green leather-covered drop-front with a drawer that opens to reveal a reserve. A small, discreet drawer pivots on the side and contains a silver-plated inkwell and hourglass. The table is adorned with chased and gilded bronze mounts. Stamped twice by Léonard Boudin (received as a master in 1761) and the guild mark.
France, second half of the 18th century.

Height: 72.6 cm
Width: 61 cm
Depth: 38 cm
Usual restoration

This piece is similar to a salon table attributed to Wolff, sold at Sotheby’s in London on July 6, 1979, lot 237, and also to the famous Ader/Tajan sale on November 7, 1991, Roberto Polo Collection in Paris, lot 155, estimate: 600,000/800,000 FF.

Throughout the 18th century, furniture developed that, in addition to a new style, also adapted to the new standards of comfort in the wealthy homes of the Kingdom of France.
The architect Jacques François Blondel described these social changes by outlining three types of apartments, each requiring a specific type of furniture suited to its purpose: state apartments, reception apartments, and private apartments.

It was within these circles that luxurious furniture developed, notably writing tables, for which the Marquise de Pompadour is credited with instigating the growing appeal of this type of furniture.

This marquetry decoration, prized by the contemporaries of its makers, is easily discernible in different interpretations on writing tables bearing various signatures, suggesting that their creators shared their expertise with different workshops. Our piece of furniture displays the stamp of Léonard Boudin twice. A student of Pierre Migeon, he acquired a reputation among his peers that allowed him, in addition to his work as a cabinetmaker, to open his own shop and employ several of his colleagues in his business, while continuing to affix his signature to the furniture produced through this collaboration. Modest in size, these floating pieces of furniture found their place in the intimacy of bedrooms and drawing rooms, acquiring multiple functions while adorning themselves with opulent decoration that reflected the wealth of their patron.
Our table, which we can date to the 1770s, belongs to the Transition period between the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI and adopts the same structure. It features a heterogeneous and colorful decoration of various woods, combining picturesque scenes with straight lines and cubic marquetry with their wine-colored cartouches and rocaille-like scrolls. Its dynamic forms demonstrate the continued attachment during this decade to forms inherited from the Rococo style, while also revealing the evolution of the arts towards a more austere, "Greek-style" taste.

Thus, furniture bearing his stamp can reveal the work of different cabinetmakers, such as the architectural decorations, which can also be attributed to André Louis Gilbert. A renowned cabinetmaker and shrewd merchant, Boudin's production was prolific, and writing tables bearing his stamp can be found in prestigious museums both abroad and in France, notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which houses a writing table of the same model as ours (inv. no. 69.9.4). Another example with a much more similar decoration was sold by Christie's London on November 12, 2020 (lot 24).

Léonard Boudin excelled in executing the complex and fluid curves characteristic of the furniture of his time, which he embellished with highly sophisticated marquetry, combining figurative scenes and architectural elements.
These compositions derive their remarkable vibrancy from the chromatic contrasts between the different types of wood used, some of which are stained, even if the original effect must have been even more striking.

Clearly, at a time when avant-garde taste had shifted towards the austere Greek style and the lighter Louis XVI furniture, there was still a large and enthusiastic market for this colorful and richly decorated late Rococo furniture. Through their combination of mechanisms, figurative marquetry in scrolled frames, cubic marquetry, and mosaic panels, these tables ultimately draw inspiration from late 1750s and early 1760s examples by Jean-François Oeben (1721–1763; see R. Stratmann-Döhler, Jean-François Oeben, Paris, 2002, for numerous examples). The stamps found on the tables demonstrate that a number of cabinetmakers continued to produce this style.

Ref: 2RQVEX0GDR