From the Cité des enfants - 5/12 years: "Le jardin" (The garden) TPSB greenhouse, sold without plants and butterflies Back wall missing (greenhouse mounted against a stone wall, not included in the lot) H: 280cm W: 450cm D: 490cm The Dossier des Ouvrages Exécutés (DOE) will be given to the buyer at the end of the sale. Dismantling costs to be borne by buyer - €1,311.50 excl. tax (€1,573.80 inc. VAT)

neoclassical russian imperial gueridon, late 18th century Attributed to Christian Meyer In stained hornbeam floral marquetry on a rosewood base, the top decorated in the center with an allegory of a River God in the form of a reclining Old Man amidst jagged foliage scrolls, the maple, lemon and stained hornbeam border with a motif of flowering falls au naturel, the waist opening into a drawer, the sheathed mounts with simulated flutes ending in casters. Marks on the reverse:old printed label inscribed in Cyrillic "Царскосельскаго / Дворцового Правленiя141", and numerous inventory numbers H.:70 cm (27 ½ in.) w.:86 cm (34 in.) P.:62 cm (24 ½ in.) Provenance: Delivered for the Tsarkoye Selo Palace; Most likely sold by order of the Soviet government between the late 20s and early 30s; Swiss private collection since 1935. A Russian Imperial Neoclassical floral marquetry, rosewood, maplewood, and bois citronnier gueridon, late 18th century, attributed to Christian Meyer * Information for buyers: When leaving the EU, a CITES re-export certificate may be required, at the expense of the future buyer. * Information to buyers: For an exit from the EU, a CITES re-export certificate will be necessary, at the buyer's expense. This elegant coffee table is reminiscent of the excellent work of cabinetmakers working for the Russian aristocracy and imperial family in Saint Petersburg at the end of the 18th century. The superb marquetry of our piece allows us to link it to the work of Christian Meyer, rightly considered the finest cabinetmaker of the period and who worked actively for the imperial court, delivering pieces for the Hermitage as well as for Chateau Michel, Pavlosk and Tsarkoe Selo. Our table is characterized by a structure combining sober neoclassical lines with a very pure decor, the top distinguished by the use of contrasting colored veneers, surrounding a central cartouche. The tabletop's fine marquetry, combining extremely jagged foliate scrolls and strikingly naturalistic floral bouquets, is influenced by the work of the architect Charles Cameron (1745-1812) and the Italian Michelangelo Pergolesi, who were to be a major source of inspiration in Christian Meyer's work. Comparable inlays can be found on a number of tables delivered by Meyer for the imperial court (cfr. N. Guseva, T. Semyonova, Russian Eighteenth Century Furniture in the Hermitage Collection, The State Hermitage Publishers, 2015, p.330-348). It should also be remembered that the decoration on the belt of our table, adorned with a stylized foliage motif marquetry, can be found on a pair of high-backed pieces of furniture designed by Christian Meyer for the Winter Palace and illustrated in N. Guseva, T. Semyonova, Russian Eighteenth Century Furniture in the Hermitage Collection, The State Hermitage Publishers, 2015, p.374-375. The motif of the central painting on the top of our piece is framed by scrolls and ornaments that were very much in vogue in interior decoration and that the architect Cameron would use in many of his designs for Russian imperial palaces (cfr. fig. 1 and fig. 2). As for the central decoration depicting the allegory of a River God, most probably the Tiber or another Italian river, Meyer seems to have been inspired here by the large number of 18th-century engravings illustrating this subject (see figs. 3, 4 and 5). As illustrated by the numerous inventory numbers and the label printed on the underside of our tabletop, it was made for the Tsarkoe Selo Palace, the summer residence of the Russian imperial family, some twenty kilometers from Saint Petersburg. The imperial estate of Tsarkoe Selo comprises the Catherine Palace, built in the mid-18th century for Empress Elisabeth by the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771), and the Alexander Palace, a neoclassical residence built between 1792 and 1796; the latter was the preferred residence of the last Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, and their children. The printed label, dating from the interwar period, shows that the table was still in Tsarskoye Selo at the beginning of the 20th century. As for its fate after the 1917 revolution, it is very likely that it followed the fate of many other pieces of Russian imperial furniture that left the country between 1928 and 1932 when the Soviet authorities organized mass sales of works of art.