The painter Edouard Lièvre (d. 1886) trained in Thomas Couture's atelier and devoted himself to the industrial arts, furniture in particular. Towards the late 1870s, Livre created a suite of Japanese-inspired furniture for Albert Vieillard (d. 1895), the renowned director of Bordeaux's ceramics manufactory, including his celebrated Cabinet Japonais, now in the Musée d'Orsay. It was Vieillard's keen interest for Japanese motifs that inspired Lièvre's highly original designs, the present table-stand among them. After Edouard Lièvre's death, his sketches and plans, together with their reproduction rights, were sold in both 1887 and 1890, some of which were purchased by George and Henry Pannier, the then directors of the luxurious store L'Escalier de Cristal. It is believed that Lièvre's design for this tripod table-stand was almost certainly among those acquired by L'Escalier de Cristal and is further recorded in Henry Pannier's sketchbook. A very similar tripod table but with a griotte rouge marble top and slight variation to elephant head decoration signed by Maison Marnyhac under subcontract from l’Escalier de Cristal and currently housed in a private collection, is illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, Edouard Lièvre, Paris, 2004, p. 5-6. Another ebonised and parcel-gilt example was sold Christie’s, New York, 21 October 2008, lot 272 ($52,500).