Footnotes

Provenance
Collection Jeanne Demarsy, sold Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 17 December 1937, lot 87;
Collection Etienne Ader, sold Mes Ader, Tajan, George V Paris, 15 December 1993, lot 100;
Me Antoine Ader, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24 November 1995, lot 71 and again 10 November 1999, lot 90;
Jean-Marie Rossi, Aveline, Paris, 2000, where acquired.

Literature
Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, UCAD, Paris, Album Maciet, no.358bis, 4, Meubles signés Ebénistes XVIIIe siècle, F-H.
Christophe Huchet de Quénetain, Pierre Garnier, Paris, 2003, no.53, ill. p.66.

Pierre Garnier (circa 1725-1806), maître ébéniste in 1742.

The son of the Parisian ébéniste François Garnier, Pierre, who in 1742 became maître-ébéniste at the early age of 16, went on to play a role in the early development of Neo-Classical furniture equally remarkable as those of the famous German-born Jean-François Oeben and Joseph Baumhauer.

As a result of his early and highly-publicised collaboration with De Wailly and through Madame Geoffrin's recommendation, Garnier caught the attention of one of the most influential protagonists of the new style, Madame de Pompadour's brother, the Directeur des Bâtiments, the Marquis de Marigny.

As a remarkable series of letters from Marigny to his cabinet-maker testifies, he held Garnier in high esteem and entrusted him with a variety of commissions (S. Eriksen, 'Some letters from the Marquis de Marigny to his cabinet-maker Pierre Garnier', in Journal of Furniture History, no.8, 1972, pp. 78-85). For instance, Marigny asked Garnier to design various items of furniture in ebony including their mounts; this includes a pair of meubles d'appui designed by him, most probably supplied to the marquis de Marigny, sold at Sotheby's, Paris, 13 November 2018, lot 30.

Interestingly, de Quénetain, op.cit. p.66, notes that the present lot could possibly be the 'une joly table plaqué de bois de rose' delivered by Pierre Garnier on 19 December 1776.