Date: about 1705
Maker: Cabinetwork attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732)
Materials: Oak, walnut, ebony, turtleshell, brass and gilt bronze
Measurements: 100 x 90.5 x 63 cm
Inv. no. F56
The première-partie marquetry on the top of this remarkable console table is a fine example of singerie, an artistic genre that depicts monkeys imitating and parodying human behaviour.
On the lower section of the top, two monkeys perch on scrolling foliage and play the violin and bagpipes, while above them, two others dressed in waistcoats and turbans turn capstans, which pull taut the tightrope in the upper section that is surrounded by branches.
Across it teeter two monkeys, who attempt to catch the bunches of grapes that dangle from the top of a tree, to which another clings and prepares to foil their efforts to dislodge them. Below, three more monkeys sport feathered hats, doublets and breeches. One of them kneels, while another holds a jug and raises a toast with a wine glass.
The design of these mischievous monkeys closely relates to those depicted on two Boulle side tables in the museum. Beneath the tabletop hang ten lambrequins that imitate textile drapery, and from the centre of these appears the smirking face of Bacchus, the god of wine, crowned with ivy.
Two legs, also in première-partie, spring from the sides of the table before twisting inwards and standing to attention. Each leg is capped with a ferocious lion mask and shod with a naturalistic paw.
Intended to be positioned against a wall between windows, the table is attributed to Boulle based on its similarity to a model that appears in a series of engravings he published around 1708, his Nouveaux Desseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie.
Although the overall form is the same, there are some differences between the design and the Wallace Collection table, most notably in the arrangement of the mounts.
These tables also relate to one Boulle delivered to the duchesse de Bourgogne’s apartment at the royal menagerie in 1701, which was described, with much smaller dimensions, in an inventory drawn up before it closed in 1718.
This suggests the model existed before 1701 and that, taking into account the Wallace table and similar examples in 18th-century sales catalogues, Boulle produced multiple variations of it.
The table first appeared in 1809 at the sale of Pierre de Grand-Pré, a paintings dealer, before passing to a Madame Macqueron sometime before 1821, and later the 12th Earl of Pembroke, a great English collector known for his debauched lifestyle while exiled in Paris.
Hertford acquired the table from Pembroke’s sale and kept it in the Salon galerie of his apartment in the rue Laffitte.
A number of alterations were made to the table over the course of the 19th century, most notably the addition of a plinth, probably by Hertford or Sir Richard Wallace, which was later removed.