Jean-Jacques Pafrat Tables

A late 18th century mahogany bouillotte table, the circular grey-veined marble top with a pierced gallery above two frieze drawers flanked by two leather-lined candle slides, with the well-preserved removable top displaying a leather-lined playing surface, on fluted square tapering legs with brass wheels and sabots. One drawer stamped J.-J. PAFRAT (see picture, almost illegible). Jean-Jacques Pafrat was made maitre in 1785, he died in 1793. A similar table was auctioned at the Munich auction house Hampel with a comparable identifiable stamp mark. Bouillotte was a card game (similar to today's poker) that was wildly popular in France in the 18th century. Both a table and a lamp were specifically designed for the game. The raised galleries helped keep the dice and playing pieces on the table. Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français Du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 2008, p. 675, without illustration, however Kjellberg mentions „table de jeu...