Small table by Martin Carlin

Very rare small oval table resting on four slightly arched legs mounted on casters. They are joined by a bean-shaped spacer shelf. The top is supported by four flat uprights adorned with rudentées fluting, richly accompanied by gilded and chased bronzes. The top opens to reveal a keyed drawer in the waistband, revealing a writing case and inkwell. The top, waistband and spacer shelf are inlaid with a delicate lattice motif in rosewood and sycamore. The small table is trimmed with gilded and chased bronzes in the form of paw-footed sabots, fruit cluster and floral falls, openwork galleries adorned with gadroons, and keyhole escutcheons.
Oak frame
Stamped Martin Carlin
Transition period
Restoration
H. 77 x W. 28 x D. 39 cm

The small table in our study is a rare delicacy. Its slender uprights, the detail of the openwork brackets and the choice of lattice marquetry make this piece of furniture a jewel of the salon. Its lightness and the balance of its curved and straight lines are also visual characteristics of high-quality furniture.

So, if you look at this piece of furniture, you can easily guess that the designer of such a work can only be “one of the greats”. The underside of the table bears the stamp of Martin Carlin, one of today's best-known and most appreciated cabinetmakers. While many of his works are housed in prestigious museums - the Metropolitan Museum, the Louvre, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Trust Collection each possess several - it is all the more true that his output has always lived up to his reputation. Added to this quality is the rarity of his furniture: there are very few opportunities to buy one of his creations. As we said earlier, most of his pieces are kept by institutions, and his name alone makes his furniture attractive.

So who is Martin Carlin? Born in Germany, we know he arrived in Paris before 1759, when he married one of the sisters of another cabinetmaker: Jean-François Oeben. Although the year of his master's degree is 1766, this family connection indicates that he worked with/for his colleague. His career was filled with prestigious commissions for Marie-Antoinette, the Countess of Provence, the Count of Artois, the daughters of Louis XV, Madame du Barry and others. He therefore supplied the greatest clients of his time, without ever having held the title of cabinetmaker to the crown. He worked through the intermediary of merchant-merchants such as Simon-Philippe Poirier and Dominique Daguerre. Their influence was crucial to his work (particularly in the use of porcelain plates).

Small, light pieces of furniture dominate his production: Pierre Kjellberg describes them as “rigorously constructed, precious, very feminine” (in his book “Le mobilier français du XVIIe siècle”). His bronzes are highly recognizable, as are the falls of flowers, fruit and foliage featured on our little table. He developed his work around porcelain and lacquer, but also produced a body of work in which marquetry is central to the subject. Always of indisputable craftsmanship, these pieces are also highly sought-after. The stamp on the furniture alone is not enough to attribute this work to Martin Carlin. Numerous details confirm that this is indeed a work by the master. Several small tables in the Metropolitan collection feature curved legs topped by flat, slender uprights. In addition, the lattice motif can be found on other pieces of furniture by the cabinetmaker: a regulator preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris and a jewelry box that belonged to Marie-Antoinette and is kept at the Château de Versailles.