With its jewel-like ormolu mounts and richly-figured acajou moucheté timber, this table is an archetype of the luxurious furnishings produced in the Roentgen workshop in the late 1780s and early 1790s. The use of this special and particularly costly mahogany veneer was reserved for the most sumptuous pieces that were intended for the workshop’s most discerning buyers. Round tables of this form were among the most sought-after works for both their beauty and practicality, and were sold to some of the wealthiest and most illustrious clients, including French and Russian royalty. In March, 1786 eleven such tables were delivered from Roentgen’s atelier to Saint Petersburg, see W. Koeppe, op. cit., p. 181. A table of this type, now in the chateâu de Versailles, was also listed in the collection of the Comtesse de Provence in 1792 as une table mécanique servant de secrétaire en acajou à quatre pieds gainés, garnis de brettes, cadres, carderons, plusieurs moulures en bronze doré d'or moulu. A similar oval table with an undertier, but with different legs and mounts, was formerly in the collection of the Princes of Oldenburg, while two others in the collection of the Princes of Reuss, were sold Christie’s, Schloss Anholt, 20-21 November 2001, lot 6450 and Christie’s, Gera, 26-27 May 1998, lots 225 and 226, respectively. An almost identical table is now in the Palace of Pavlovsk, while a virtually identical one of the same size is in the Städtisches Museum, Glauchau, see J. M. Greber, Abraham und David Roentgen: Möbel für Europa, Starnberg, vol. II., 1980, p. 313, figs. 620 and 621, respectively.

The prestigious provenances of the above comparable pieces illustrate how extremely popular such tables were with the royal and aristocratic patrons at the time. While the overall form and concept are the same for the aforementioned examples, there are differences of varying degree among them. Whereas, with milleraies mounts on its legs, the Glauchau example is identical to one of the tables in this lot, all the others have variations to their legs, mounts or undertiers. Three single tables of this shape, decoration, but with fluted legs, sold Christie's, Monaco, 15 June 1997, lot 164, Christie’s, Paris, 16 December 2008, lot 183, and Christie’s, London, 4 July 2017, lot 54, respectively. Furthermore, a similar table without an undertier in the Chatsworth House Trust is illustrated Koeppe, op. cit., p. 170. Differences among tables of this model are thus common and are present in the lot offered here as the ormolu roundels and lower galleries are not the same. According to Koeppe, the differences between the two tables in this lot do not indicate that they were produced singly and paired later, but rather that “they were part of the Neuwied workshop’s stock and sold as part of a set of objects that were finished by various cabinetmakers,” a practice that was documented as early as the 1750s, see ibid., p. 181. A nearly identical pair of writing tables was sold from the Estate of Ruth Stanton, Christie's, New York, 22 March - 5 April 2022, lot 113 ($113,400).