LOUIS XV PERIOD BEDSIDE TABLE In Martin varnish, with polychrome decoration on a cream background of birds and bouquets of flowers in frames of knotted ribbon motifs, restored violet breccia marble top, the front opening with a leaf, cambered legs;small accidents and missing parts. H.:71 cm (28 in.) l.:41 cm (16 ¼ in.) P.:31 cm (12 ¼ in.) Provenance: Former collection of Madame André Tastet ; Sale in Lyons-la-Foret, March 13, 2005, lot 337 ; Acquired by the current owner. A Louis XV varnished Martin bedside table This bedside table is a testimony to the art of 18th-century varnish-makers, the best-known of whom are the Martin brothers who gave their name to this type of varnish. In 1748, four of them founded the Manufacture Royale de vernis à la façon de la Chine. The naturalistic decoration on a white background that adorns this lovely table makes it a rare model. Indeed, it is far removed from the examples of lacquerware from the Orient, which were so fashionable during the reign of Louis XV that craftsmen took them as models. Indeed, most varnished furniture from this period features chinoiserie decorations, treated more or less freely, sometimes even on a blue, green or white background. With its rare, typically Western decoration, in which all stylistic references to the Orient have been abandoned, this delightful little table should be compared with a commode delivered by Gilles Joubert in 1755 for Madame Adélaïde, now preserved at the Château de Versailles. Decorated with a bouquet of flowers and illustrated in A. Forray-Carlier and M. Kopplin, Les secrets de la laque française, le vernis Martin, exhibition catalog, Musée des Arts décoratifs, February 13-June 8, 2014, p.107, cat. 63. The latter is the only piece of varnish furniture for which we can be certain that one of the Martin brothers, Etienne-Simon, was involved.