Jean Henri Riesener

He used floral and figural marquetry techniques to a great extent, contrasting with refined parquetry and trelliswork grounds, in addition to gilt-bronze mounts.

From 1784, with France near bankruptcy, the pace of court commissions dropped radically; Thierry de Ville d'Avray succeeded Pierre-Elizabeth de Fontanieu at the Garde-Meuble le la Couronne and turned for necessary economy to less expensive suppliers, such as Guillaume Beneman; Riesener's last pieces for the court featured sober but richly-figured West Indian mahogany veneers and more restrained use of gilt-bronze mounts.

Close examination of the thirty pieces of Riesener furniture in the three collections, along with art historical and archival research, revealed much that was previously unknown about the materials and techniques the cabinetmaker used, as well as his workshop practices.

The Project also explored the development of the market for Riesener's furniture in the nineteenth century, and the influence that his designs and cabinetmaking techniques had on later furniture-makers.

[13] The findings of the Project led to the publishing of the first major monograph on Riesener,[14] while the detailed technical examination of the materials, structure and condition of the objects that took place, along with scientific analysis, allowed for interactive 3D models to be created.

Towards the end of the industrial age until the agricultural depression of the 1920s, large numbers of works, predominately in UK collections were auctioned off and made their passage to American collectors.

Still to this date UK collections are especially rich in the works of French furniture and decorative arts, particularly of Royal provenance, and the UK continues to enjoy perhaps the greatest repository of Riesener's works outside Paris.Described as a "flat-sided rectangular table, break-fronted on all four sides, which is supported on four straight tapering legs, square in section with indented corners",[1] Riesener's French Writing-Tables were normally extremely fine in the modelling of gilt-bronze mounts.

Bellaigue again discusses the context around the commission of this commode, and refers to "the change in status" of Madame Elisabeth, the youngest sister of Louis XVI, when she is "formerly introduced to her new Household" on 17 May 1778.

Portrait of Jean-Henri Riesener, seated at one of his writing tables , by Antoine Vestier , 1786 (Musée de Versailles).
Writing table made for Marie Antoinette, 1780–85 at Waddesdon Manor .
Bureau du Roi , delivered to Louis XV .
Portrait of Jean-Henri Riesener by his son, Henri-François Riesener , 1800 ( Waddesdon Mano )). In this later portrait, Riesener is depicted with a degree of intimacy and informality, in contrast to his portrait by Vestier , which shows him as a man of court, dressed in elaborate clothes and seated at a table.
An interactive 3D model of a chest of drawers
An interactive 3D model of a Riesener chest of drawers at the Wallace Collection.
An isometric drawing of a fall-front desk
An isometric drawing of a Riesener fall-front desk at the Wallace Collection.
Writing table of Marie-Antoinette by Riesener (1786) in the petit appartement de la reine , Palace of Versailles .
French Chest of Drawers commissioned for the Comtesse de Provence in 1776, sits in the Red Drawing Room at Waddesdon Manor .
Commissioned to furnish Madame Elisabeth 's new Household as a 'Daughter of France in 1778. This now sits opposite the Comtesse de Provence's commode in the Red Drawing Room, at Waddesdon Manor .