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Date: circa 1705, in the manner of Jean Pelletier
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Dimensions: 78cm. high, 114cm. wide, 63cm. deep; 2ft. 6¾in., 3ft. 9in., 2ft. ¾in.
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Notes:
The present table has strong stylistic affinities with the work of the Pelletiers. Jean Pelletier and his two sons, René and Thomas, were Huguenots who left Paris in the 1680s presumably to avoid persecution after the Revocation of the edict of Nantes. Jean is first recorded in England in 1681/1682 at which time he took out denization which gave him legal status as an English citizen, being joined by his wife Esther and his son Thomas, who was born in Paris in 1680, soon afterwards, his eldest son Thomas arriving from Amsterdam probably by 1688. The family were described as carvers and gilders, although in the late 17 (th) century these skills were normally practiced by members of different guilds. In Jean's will, drawn up in 1702, he is described as a 'Frame Gilder'. After his death in 1704 he was described by his son René as a 'Limner, Engraver and Gilder'. From 1689 until his death Jean's principal patron appears to have been Ralph, Earl and later 1 (st) Duke of Montagu. Montagu had been Charles II's Ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV at Versaille, and was later appointed to the position of Master of the Wardrobe by William III. The furniture supplied by Pelletier for Montague House Bloomsbury clearly reflects not only his Paris taught skills, but also his deep knowledge of the current fashions of the French Court of which Montagu himself was acutely aware and wished to emulate. Through Montagu's influence Pelletier was granted a large commission to supply between 1699 and 1702 carved gilt wood furniture for William III's State apartments at Hampton Court Palace. At a cost of some six hundred pounds, the commission included six tables with gilt wood frames supporting marble slabs flanked by pairs of large gilt-wood candle-stands. In the French manner, these were designed to be placed between the windows of the King's Eating Room, the King's Privy Chamber and the King's Withdrawing Room. Although three different sets of candle-stands have been acknowledged as Pelletier's work for several years, the confusion regarding the pier tables has only recently been resolved by Tessa Murdoch in The Burlington Magazine, November 1997 who suggests that they may have been supplied by Gerritt Jensen but made by Thomas and René Pelletier.
The pierced supports and gadroon carving on the present table and also the foliate-scroll carved stretcher all relate to the Hampton Court pieces. Further stylistic evidence supporting an association with the Pelletiers can also be seen in a set of stools supplied to the Duke of Montagu, recorded in `The First State Room' at Boughton, illustrated in Tessa Murdoch, Boughton House, The English Versailles, 1992, p.64, pl.22. ( see illustration) . The form of the stretcher on the stool is almost identical to that on the present table and the stools also share the same piercing to the supports.
For a further comparison, see a pair of giltwood stools with a provenance of Warwick Castle, attributed to Gerritt Jensen in association with Thomas Pelletier, sold Sotheby`s Important English Furniture, 4th June 2008, lot 30.
