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Lot Essay
While immersed in the huge undertaking of enlarging Versailles in the 1670's, Louis XIV sought an alternative site as a respite from the rigors of court life and in 1677 acquired land in Marly, a wooded site which also provided water for the fountains of Versailles. He commissioned the same team of architects and designers who were working for him at Versailles: the premier peintre Charles Le Brun, the architect Jules-Hardouin Mansart and André Le Nôtre who designed the gardens.
Marly consisted of a central pavillon du roi with four apartments for the king, Madame de Maintenon, the king's brother and the Queen.
Supplied by an ingenious water pump known as the 'Machine de Marly', a central ornamental lake was flanked by six guest pavilions to either side. Because of its intimate scale and the relative relaxation of court etiquette there, an invitation from the king to join him at Marly for a festive programme of hunting and fêtes was one of the most sought after at the court.
In the absence of any inventory numbers it is possible that the table offered here, which clearly dates from the 1720's, was supplied to one of the guest pavilions as the furniture in the pavillon du roi remained strictly from the Louis XIV period (see J-J. Gautier, 'Un pied de table réalisé pour le château de Marly en 1683', L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, October 2009, pp, 54-7, for a table supplied for the vestibule of the pavillon du roi, now in the Garde Meuble National). A further intriguing possibility is that in 1749 under Louis XV 'une chemin de marbre de serrancolin marbre' was delivered to the Grand Cabinet (formerly the King's Petit Appartement), along with three consoles with tops of the same precious Sarrancolin marble as the table offered here (see S. Castellucio, 'Le château de Marly sous le règne de Louis XVI', Notes et documents des musées de France, 1996, p. 114).
Marly consisted of a central pavillon du roi with four apartments for the king, Madame de Maintenon, the king's brother and the Queen.
Supplied by an ingenious water pump known as the 'Machine de Marly', a central ornamental lake was flanked by six guest pavilions to either side. Because of its intimate scale and the relative relaxation of court etiquette there, an invitation from the king to join him at Marly for a festive programme of hunting and fêtes was one of the most sought after at the court.
In the absence of any inventory numbers it is possible that the table offered here, which clearly dates from the 1720's, was supplied to one of the guest pavilions as the furniture in the pavillon du roi remained strictly from the Louis XIV period (see J-J. Gautier, 'Un pied de table réalisé pour le château de Marly en 1683', L'Estampille/L'Objet d'Art, October 2009, pp, 54-7, for a table supplied for the vestibule of the pavillon du roi, now in the Garde Meuble National). A further intriguing possibility is that in 1749 under Louis XV 'une chemin de marbre de serrancolin marbre' was delivered to the Grand Cabinet (formerly the King's Petit Appartement), along with three consoles with tops of the same precious Sarrancolin marble as the table offered here (see S. Castellucio, 'Le château de Marly sous le règne de Louis XVI', Notes et documents des musées de France, 1996, p. 114).