The original model for this table is attributed to Weisweiler and Thomire and was delivered by Rocheux to the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1810 (see J. P. Samoyault, Meubles entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 2004, p. 248, no. 176). The design was subsequently copied at the turn of the century by the finest cabinetmakers such as François Linke, and, as with the present lot, Zwiener.
The most recent research indicates that there were two Zwiener brothers from Herdon, Germany. The eldest brother Joseph-Emmanuel had by the 1880s established a substantial workshop in the city of Breslau in Silesia, now in Western Poland. His younger brother Julius was by the same time working in Paris, establishing themselves as premier haut luxe cabinet makers of the period culminating in their being awarded a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition universelle for an extraordinary jewellery cabinet, most recently sold Christie’s, London, 17 March 2011, lot 409 £623,650). In 1895, on receiving an important royal commission from Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia, Julius returned to Berlin to set up his own workshops. A group of furniture produced by Julius Zwiener for the Kaiser was exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle (see Sotheby's, New York, 29 June 1989, lots 270-5). Many of the pieces executed by Zwiener for the Prussian royal palaces were brought to Huis Doorn in the Netherlands in 1918, where the Kaiser lived in exile until his death in 1941.
Gilt-bronze mounts on furniture incised ‘Z’ or ‘ZN’ have been traditionally attributed to Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener, and mounts incised ‘ZJ’ to Julius. Further confusion has been caused by attributions of the ‘ZJ’ mark to Maison Jansen who bought the old Zwiener workshop at 2, rue de la Roquette, and much of the stock, on Joseph-Emmanuel’s retirement in 1895.