The top with imaginary ruins, the interior with counter wells, the frieze depicting various palaces
29¹⁄₂ in. (75 cm.) high, 35¹⁄₂ in. (90 cm.) wide, 18¹⁄₂ in. (47 cm.) deep, closed

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Lot Essay

This elegant games table is perhaps most closely related to that formerly in the bedroom of Empress Maria Feodorovna at Anichkov Palace, St. Petersburg. The latter table was acquired by the Empress in 1899 from the antique dealer Madame Anastasia Ivanovna Stratoverova in St Petersburg, later sold by the Soviet Government in 1929-32 and last sold at Christie's, New York, 20 April 2007, lot 46.
Like the present table, the Anichkov example relates to the oeuvre of the celebrated St Petersburg cabinet-maker Nikifor Vasilyev perhaps most remembered for his superb marquetry and notably his panorama of Kuskovo Palace (today home of the Russian State Museum of Ceramics) on both a games table and a kidney-shaped table illustrated in The Art of Marquetry in Eighteenth Century Russia, Moscow, 1989, p.80-8.
Much of 18th century Russian furniture was inspired by French and German designs as illustrated by the present games table. Further related examples formerly stood in the Hermitage, Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Palace, Kuskovo Palace and the former Stroganov Palace.