BY HIPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT, PARIS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

With its slender cabriole legs and finely chased ormolu mounts, this table recalls the work of André-Charles Boulle, while simultaneously referencing the elaborate pietre dure-inlaid furniture so prevalent in France in the late 18th century and reprised to great success during the Second Empire. Its maker, Hippolyte-Edme Pretot, was renowned for his creation of 'meubles incrustés’ and presided over an active Parisian atelier which exhibited works in the Paris Exposition nationale of 1849 and the London Exhibition of 1852, winning a second class medal in the latter.