Sold at Auction: Jean Henry Riesener

Jean-Henri Riesener (German: Johann Heinrich Riesener; 4 July 1734 – 6 January 1806) was a famous German ébéniste (cabinetmaker), working in Paris, whose work exemplified the early neoclassical "Louis XVI style".

Riesener was born in Gladbeck, Westphalia, Germany. He moved to Paris, where he apprenticed soon after 1754 with Jean-François Oeben, whose widow he married;[2] he was received master ébéniste in January 1768. The following year, he began supplying furniture for the Crown and in July 1774 formally became ébéniste ordinaire du roi,[3] "the greatest Parisian ébéniste of the Louis XVI period."[4] Riesener was responsible for some of the richest examples of furniture in the Louis XVI style, as the French court embarked on furnishing commissions on a luxurious scale that had not been seen since the time of Louis XIV: between 1774 and 1784, he received on average commissions amounting to 100,000 livres per annum.