M.S. Rau Tables

This rare early 19th century rosewood campaign desk displays exquisite beauty and remarkable design functionality characteristic of British military furniture. Adorned with gilt bron...

This exquisite pair of hand-painted English satinwood parlor tables is embellished with intricate detailing inspired by floral and classical themes—hallmarks of the esteemed Sheraton...

This Roman Empire mosaic table is an iconic example of Classical history, featuring a 3rd-century mosaic of a Roman Charioteer. More than mere entertainment, the four charioteer team...

The epitome of French elegance and style, this French Charles X-style writing desk takes the classic design of English Davenport desks to new heights. The table is exquisitely crafted of the finest Ceylon ebony...

These exceptional late Regency card tables were designed with both elegance and functionality in mind. Crafted of rosewood after a model by Henry Holland, the calamander-banded and g...

Crafted for functionality as well as beauty, this exquisite English neoclassical drop-leaf table exhibits remarkable design and marquetry. The grace...

This exquisite Regency-period rosewood table is distinguished by its remarkable specimen top. An exceptional relic of natural history, the tabletop, created circa 1840, bears nearly ...

This exceptionally important Roman Empire pavement forming this table's top would have lined the walkways of only the most important buildings. Using a rare and ancient form of pietre dure known opus sectile, each hardstone would have been precisely measured and inlaid by artisans to create the resulting geometric pattern. Highly expensive and labor intensive, monumental opus sectile pavements such as this were reserved for the grand entrances of only the most significant public buildings, like the Curia of the Roman Senate, the Arch of Septimius Severus...

This exquisite English mahogany tea table is a stunning example of the elaborate Chinese Chippendale style. A study in symmetry and balance,...

This exquisite writing desk is crafted of rich mahogany and features the straightforward design prevalent in England during the early 19th century. A luxurious leather-covered top pr...

This timeless mahogany Regency-style library desk features refined design elements prevalent in England during the early 19th century. Lockable drawers with elegant brass hardware pr...

This remarkable rosewood centre table attributed to legendary firm Gillows showcases masterful craftsmanship and stunningly rare hardstone specimens. The table's base is ornately crafted, complete with lion's paw feet, emphasizing the quality of the wood. The most impressive element of this beautiful piece of furniture, however, is the exquisite inlaid table top. Featuring eighteen semi-precious and hardstone specimens artfully arranged in alternating geometric shapes, rare stones like gem quality Lapis Lazuli, Egyptian porphyry and Siberian amethyst dazzle the eye. Other stones and specimens inlaid in square, circle and hexagon shapes include pyrite lapis lazuli, malachite, green aventurine, agate of amethyst, greek spartan porphyry, labradorite, fossilized wood, occhio di pavone, brèche verte d'égypte, sicilian jaspers, blood stone, spanish brocatelle, siena brocatelle, convent siena and nero antico. The sheer variety and superb quality of these features is an overwhelming visual delight and a triumph of craftsmanship. Hardstone pieces such as this were popular among the British aristocracy...

This extraordinary George III-period Pembroke table by London cabinetmakers Ince & Mayhew displays the understated sophistication of the late Georgian era. The surface of the table — including both the central panel and the signature Pembroke hinged flaps — is beautifully detailed with satinwood marquetry, inlaid with a fan medallion and foliate motifs executed with the greatest precision and craftsmanship. The table is set upon slender, tapering legs. The design is indicative of the rising influence of and interest in Neoclassical patterns, favoring motifs from nature or Classical antiquity over the extravagance of the Rococo style. William Ince and John Mayhew joined their skills as furniture designers and cabinetmakers, opening a firm together on Broad Street in 1759. Over the next forty years, the duo would execute many commissions, and develop a volume of engraved designs entitled The Universal System...

This bold and unique serpentiform pedestal table is the work of renowned Italian artisan Umberto Bellotto. The creative design twists three slithering...

This writing desk from the highly esteemed Thomas Chippendale is exceptionally rare and unique. The renowned cabinetmaker was the first craftsman to exhibit such a strong following that an entire style bears his name and not that of a monarch. He was famous for using the highest quality timbers, the finest quality mounts and for striving for perfection in every piece of furniture he created. Chippendale's clients included Catherine II of Russia, famed actor David Garrick...

Superior craftsmanship and elegant bronze work characterize this tambour front roll top writing desk by François Linke, the most important French ébéniste of his time. Linke is celeb...

This exceptional Irish games table is as functional as it is beautiful. Crafted of Cuban mahogany, it serves as a console table when not in use, but the top folds out to reveal a gre...

This Louis XIV-style French table features an intricately carved giltwood base with an exceptional level of detail, providing an extraordinary example of the opulent style. The base ...

Beautifully constructed, this French billiard table was almost certainly made for an aristocratic country house of the 19th century, an age when ...

Tremendous size and exquisite ormolu detailing distinguish this important 19th-century French pedestal. Crafted of ebony and ebonized woods, this outstanding fixture boasts intricate brass inlay and bold ormolu of exceptional quality on all four sides. Standing just over six feet tall and raised upon ormolu lion...

Matchless style and high-quality craftsmanship are the hallmarks of Pierre Roussel's furniture, and this exceptional Louis XVI-era commode epitomizes this master craftsman's skill. Crafted of rosewood veneer with a violet wood frame and intricate parquetry inlay, the cabinet's graceful design is also highly practical. The compact form holds two drawers, one of which can be locked for added security. A specimen of marble provides the perfect surface, while bronze ormolu mounts add an additional hint of luxury to the drawers and body. Elegantly curved cabriole legs with bronze ormolu shoes complete this impeccable piece. Known for his superior craftsmanship, Roussel was a highly respected maître ébéniste of the 18th century. His furniture pieces were favoured by grand patrons such as the Prince de Condé and the Princess of Monaco...

This Italian carved mahogany writing table is said to have been crafted specifically for use by King Carlo Alberto (Charles Albert of Sardinia, 1798-1849). Both beautiful and functio...

This remarkable and historic parcel-gilt electroplate table hails from renowned British firm Elkington & Co., the distinguished company that i...

Among the most beautiful examples of hardstone artistry that have ever entered our collection, these important Grand Ducal pietre dure console tables are in a class all their own. Their powerful architectural elegance, impressive size and rarity make them two of the finest hardstone masterpieces ever created and quite possibly the greatest pair of pietre dure tables in existence. With their naturalistically rendered flowers and birds, these tabletop panels showcase the particularly fine quality craftsmanship of the Grand Ducal workshops in Florence during the first quarter of the 17th century. Grand Duke Ferdinando I de Medici, one of the most important personages in the annals of art history, established the Grand Ducal Workshop in 1588. The workshop specialized in the art of pietre dure developed from the ancient art of opus sectile, giving rise to the most luxurious and detailed examples of hardstone artistry ever produced. Its patrons were the Popes and Royals of Europe, and the quality of the objects produced in the workshop is without equal. Typically, because of the high level of workmanship the art form requires, pietre dure plaques were crafted in small sizes. The great majority of known examples of pietre dure are a fraction of the size of our grand tables. The combination of pietre dure and extensive use of other rare decorative hardstones such as lapis lazuli and pietra paesina or “ruin marble” meant that these tabletops were surely produced for a wealthy collector. The tables are further distinguished by their superbly carved bases by Andrea Brustolon, known as the “Michelangelo of wood.” Brustolon was a Venetian wood sculptor known for his exuberant and intricate Baroque furniture. His high Baroque style was influenced by his years studying in Rome, where he was exposed to the sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Crafted in the early 18th century, these bases display Brusolon’s unmatched talent for both figural and foliate work, combining cupids, masks and oversized scrolling vines for a grand, ornate effect. Similar furnishings by Brustolon are held in museums worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Museum of Scotland and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while the Ca' Rezzonico Museum in Venice features an entire room dedicated to the sculptor. For approximately 150 years, these tables were part of the famed Stoneleigh Abbey collection owned by the Lord Leigh family. This renowned English country estate inspired Jane Austen to write Mansfield Park. Lord Leigh eventually sold the tables at Christie’s London in 1962, and the pair have stayed in the collection of the same Florentine family who purchased them from Christie's until we recently acquired them. Our tables are prominently pictured in the important Saul Levy book Il Mobile Veneziano del Settencento. The pietre dure plaques date circa 1625-1650. The decorative tops likely would have originally been sold with a pair of plain stone columns to display them, and Lord Leigh would have commissioned the custom bases from Brustolon circa 1714 when he added the impressive four-story fifteen-bay Baroque West Wing to Stoneleigh Abbey. A similar single Grand Ducal tabletop is in the United Kingdom’s National Trust Collection, and a smaller tabletop resides in Buckingham Palace. The flower and bird panels in our examples relate to the famous Badminton Cabinet...

This magnificent games table incorporates some of the rarest English marbles, hardstones and fossil specimens, including Derbyshire Blue John. The scarcity of these coveted stones makes an inlaid circular piece of this size a truly exceptional and unique masterpiece. The tabletop, with its fabulous specimens surrounding an Ashford marble chessboard...

This ingenious late Regency card table was designed with both beauty and entertainment in mind. When not in use, its folded D-shaped top sits against the wall providing an elegant si...

A masterpiece of both cabinetmaking and mechanical engineering, this one-of-a-kind expanding table was crafted by the renowned cabinetmaker Samuel Hawkins of London for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Diminutive in size, the fascinating table was designed as a model to demonstrate Hawkins’ innovative patent screw movement to visitors of the Exhibition – six million people in total over five months. It was exhibited again a century later at the Victoria & Albert Museum during the Festival of Britain, an event intended “to symbolise two main qualities of the national character: realism and strength on the one hand, and, on the other, independence and imagination” (Catalogue of the Exhibition, 1951, p.117). To this day, the miniature masterpiece demonstrates the quest of English furniture makers to combine technical innovation with superb craftsmanship. Displaying exceptional ingenuity, Hawkins’ wind-out screw mechanism allowed one to extend the table’s base to accommodate concentric leaves with the simple crank of a handle. It is based on the inventive expanding table originally designed by Robert Jupe in 1835, which used a swivel mechanism to separate sections of the tabletop and allow for segmented leaves to be inserted. Hawkins’ tabletop, on the other hand, extends outwards directly from the center in order to accommodate additional leaves around its diameter. This unique design allowed the mechanism to also smoothly operate on rectangular tables, which could be wound out from the middle to allow for more table space. Hawkins was not alone in his endeavor to combine the technical merits of engineering and mechanics with the most artful pursuit of cabinetmaking. The first half of the 19th century saw a prolific increase in the popularity of applying new ideas to traditional furniture principles, which allowed furniture to serve many purposes. The resulting “patent” furniture was practical and refined, though few were as innovative as Hawkins’ prodigious design. Carved with the year of the Exhibition on the beautifully designed pedestal base, the table is a testament to the significance of this innovation. The model is mentioned in detail in the catalog of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first international exhibition of industry, manufacturing, and science. Held at London’s dazzling Crystal Palace, its visitors were treated to exhibits from around the globe, including feats of engineering, innovations in industry, and marvels of design. Queen Victoria herself was a frequent visitor, along with her husband, Prince Albert, and others including Charlotte...

This important and complete American Federal dining room suite is truly a magnificent find. This suite has remained intact for over 150 years, and i...

Fashioned in the Louis XVI style, this elegant kidney-shaped French marquetry side table is decorated with a rich diamond pattern inlay. The natural warm...

Eloquent marquetry and faithful interpretation of the Louis XVI taste characterize this beautiful 19th century dressing table by Paul Sorma...

This handsome Regency library desk is crafted of rich mahogany and features the straightforward design prevalent in England during the early 19th ...

Form and function converge in this exceptional Louis XV-style bureau plat graced with eight elegant Sèvres Porcelain plaques. Framing these delightful, hand painted floral and fowl-themed plaques is a network of exquisite gilt bronze. Supporting the leather-topped table are graceful cabriole legs, a hallmark of fine Louis XV taste, that are crowned by gilt bronze caryatids and terminate in gilt bronze mounts. What makes this desk even more stunning is the inclusion of three concealed drawers that are opened only by the spring-loaded secret release mechanisms located underneath. The first porcelain mounted furnishings appeared sometime in the mid-18th century in the shops of the foremost Parisian art dealers. These furnishings successfully, and quite beautifully, married renowned Sèvres Porcelain with fine furniture to create a new segment of the decorative arts that appealed greatly to the aristocracy, especially women. The Duchesse de Mazarin, Comtesse du Barry, Marie-Antoinette and the Grand Duchess Maria...

Measuring over 30 feet in length, this tremendous and highly versatile English dining table is the greatest. It has the ability to transform to a multitude of sizes to fit any occasi...

The exquisite art of pietre dure is at its absolute finest in this spectacular pair of Russian ormolu and malachite plinths. True works of art of the Restauration period, these plinths each feature a matching pietre dure mosaic crafted of the finest stones, all chosen to create a sense of depth and dimensionality in the final work. Depicting an onyx vase with tulips, roses, daffodils, magnolia and other flowers, these pietre dure panels are among the finest examples of this ancient art we have seen. The pietre dure is complemented by malachite panels of the highest quality, exhibiting exceptional depth through its extraordinary cellular structure. Malachite is one of Russia’s most precious stones, and its presence in these plinths indicates commission and ownership by an individual of considerable status. Mounted in an excellent stepped ormolu base, these plinths originally served as bases for vases or candelabra. The overall execution and appearance of these plinths is very characteristic of the taste associated with the immensely wealthy collector Nicolas Demidoff. As early as 1806, Demidoff had commissioned the Parisian goldsmith Henri August to supply a guéridon; in 1819, he ordered famed French bronzier Pierre-Philippe Thomire to supply mounts for a massive malachite vase (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as well as a console table with legs in the form of Nike. Other commissions included a table given as a gift to Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Florence, now in the Pitti Palace. Demidoff eventually settled in Florence in 1822 and became Russian minister to the Tuscan Court. Elevated to the rank of Count of San Donato by the Grand Duke, he built a magnificent villa at San Donato on the site of lands formerly owned by the Medici. The villa was later inherited by Anatole, his son, Prince of San Donato, and there are records which confirm transactions he had with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. The 19th century proved to be the golden age of Russian malachite. The stone became a sign of prestige and a token of wealth, so much so that Russian papers of the time wrote: "To afford having a big piece wrought in malachite is synonymous to owning diamonds." Year after year the Russian (Romanov) treasury paid increasingly unreasonable prices to hoard the best malachite, much of which went into Romanov palaces and extravagant objets d'art. The Hermitage Museum possesses a collection of over two hundred examples of this “palatial” malachite...

Exquisite craftsmanship in wood is coupled with the elegance of Wedgwood in this remarkable side table. Highly similar to one of French cabinetmaker Francois Linke's most enquired-after designs at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, this outstanding piece features bronze gilding, which complements the luminous Ceylon satinwood. A beautiful white marble top harmonizes wonderfully with Wedgwood jasperware...

This exceptionally rare circular expanding dining table was designed by Robert Jupe and crafted by the English cabinetmakers Johnstone & Jeanes, successors to Johnstone, Jupe & Co. One of only a handful known from the firm, this table illustrates the Victorian era's quest to combine technical innovation with superb and beautiful craftsmanship. Complete with its original leaves, the table’s circular top is formed from eight separate segments. When the top is rotated, an ingenious swivel mechanism causes the sections to diverge, allowing a set of small or large leaves to be inserted for an adjustable increase in size. The design for the table was patented by Robert Jupe in 1835, who had envisioned “an improved expanding table so constructed that the sections composing its surface may be caused to diverge from a common center and that the spaces caused thereby may be filled up by inserting leaves or filling pieces.” The first of these fascinating tables were created between 1835 and 1840 during his partnership with John Johnstone and their firm of Johnstone, Jupe & Co. in London. Jupe left the company in 1840, after which the firm changed its name due to a new partnership and became Johnstone & Jeanes. The firm would eventually achieve international fame for its remarkable designs, exhibiting a "circular table made on the expanding principle" like this one at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Jupe was not alone in his fascination with combining the technical merits of engineering and mechanics with the more artful pursuit of cabinet making. The first half of the 19th century saw a prolific increase in the popularity of applying new ideas to furniture principles, which allowed furniture to serve many purposes. The resulting “patent” furniture...

An array of exotic Caribbean and South American woods are featured in this exceptional 19th-century West Indian games table. Evocative of the designs of the great Scottish furniture...

This superb mechanical desk by famed French ebeniste Alfred Emmanuel Louis Beurdeley is both an artistic and engineering achievement. A Parisian ca...

This handsome library table is a remarkable example of the English furnishings that represented wealthy Victorian tastes. The piece is attributed to Holland & Sons, a firm regarded as one of the most important cabinetmakers of the era. Crafted of rich mahogany with gilt brass mounts and a tooled leather writing surface, this table characterizes the superb craftsmanship of Holland & Sons and exudes Victorian elegance. The well-known British cabinetmaking firm of Holland & Sons was considered the top of their class in their day. Found in 1803 by William Holland...

A luxurious array of rare marbles and hard stones are inset into the playing surface of this William IV-period chess table. The visually appealing arrangement incorporates specimens ...

Perfectly proportioned and beautifully crafted, this rare hunt table is an exceptional example of Regency-period cabinetmaking. Also known as a social table...

These exceptional Regency card tables were designed with dual purposes in mind. Crafted of rosewood, the tables serve as attractive console tables when closed. When opened, the table...

Pietra Paesina is one of the most scarce and wondrous stones on earth, and the surface of this exceptional early 19th-century center table is inset with...

This phenomenal Georgian concertina card table is a masterpiece of English woodworking. Constructed for multifunctional use, this mahogany table ...

This English mahogany console table is a rare period example of the elaborate Chinese Chippendale style. A study in symmetry and balance, this table combines the restrained elegance of the Georgian period with the intricate artistry of the Orientalist aesthetic. Elaborate fretwork on the frieze and pierced supports are beautifully matched by fluted legs. As a whole, it represents a stunning marriage of Chippendale craftsmanship and Eastern design. Small, decorative tables such as this represented the great influence that China had in European decorative and Fine art beginning in the 1600s. Since the Restoration of the monarchy, there had been a growing interest in Chinese-style design forms in England. Called "chinoiserie" in French, this style had become extremely popular by the middle of the 18th century, and designers such as Thomas Chippendale eagerly adopted the elaborate Eastern designs. By the mid-1750s, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were sporting "Chinese Pavilions...

This outstanding 13-piece Victorian dining suite by R.J. Horner of New York boasts intricate hand carving rarely seen in furnishings of the era....

Crafted of rich mahogany, this library table displays all of the sophistication Regency-era furnishings are known for. This table features a straightforward design with beautifully c...