Day 182 - Lauzon Room table


August 29, 2019

Gallery 523 is known as the Lauzon Room because its wall paneling comes from the Hotel Lauzon on the Ile Saint-Louis, although its 18th century furnishings were assembled from a variety of locations. This very grand space, about 35 feet on a side, with high ceilings and dim lighting, is furnished with a very grand bed, topped by a high canopy elaborately carved  of walnut and beech  and then gilded But, as I read, such a room was not intended for sleeping. Instead, it was  used as a reception room for aristocratic callers when they visited for such occasions as the birth of a child.

One item I note is a cloth cover for a firescreen. It's embroidered with the letters A and M and turns out to be a copy of a firescreen cover embroidered by Marie Antoinette herself for the royal chateau at Saint Cloud. (I never knew there was a royal chateau at Saint Cloud; I guess the royal homes at the Louvre, Versailles, and Fontainebleau didn't suffice.) 

I don't like today's object all that much - I'd prefer it without the gilding, which makes it too fancy for my tastes - but I admire its versatility. It's a small table, made around 1785 and measuring perhaps  3 feet long and 18 inches wide, that could variously be used as a dressing table, a desk, and a breakfast table. Moreover, a panel on its top, mirrored on one side, could be lifted off and used as a breakfast tray. The table is equipped with drawers on either end; its top has two glass-topped compartments for display of various bibelots. (I checked - that is the right term.) Its constituent materials include oak, pine, sycamore, boxwood, tulipwood, ebony veneer, Sevres porcelain, gilt silver, glass, and lacquer. It was signed by is maker, Martin Carlin, who was evidently a master furniture-maker. The table is a triumph  of design and workmanship. It just doesn't fit in with my decor!

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