Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia’s Table (1759-1828)
£2,600
A Russian kingwood occasional table, the 18th century marquetry top panel inlaid with the cipher of the Empress Maria Feodorovna beneath the Russian Imperial crown, contained within a laurel wreath and beaded frame surrounded by flowering roses, the outer border with floral panels with paterae at the corners, the mid 19th century kingwood-veneered table stand with cabriole legs joined by a shelf stretcher
Daughter of Duke Frederick of Wurttemberg, Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Luise of Wurttemberg, born in 1759, married Prince Paul of Russia as his second wife in 1776, taking the name Maria Feodorovna. She became Empress on the death of her mother-in-law, Catherine the Great, in 1796, but her husband was assassinated in 1801. Her son became Emperor, and she lived on until 1828. She was a great patroness of the Arts, and she and her husband had made a great progress through Europe incognito, under the title of the Comte and Comtesse du Nord, visiting Paris, where they commissioned furniture from Martin Carlin amongst others, and having an audience with the Pope when they reached Rome. Prior to inheriting the throne, the Imperial couple lived mostly at the palaces of Gatchina and Pavlovsk and, as a widow, Maria Feodorovna resided mostly at Gatchina.
The marqueteur of choice for the Imperial family seems to have been the renowned Saint Petersburg cabinet-maker, Christian Meÿer, who supplied many pieces for the Imperial Palaces, and it is possible that he executed the offered table-top.
Christian Meÿer’s life and work are discussed in detail by Tatyana Semenova in the ‘Furniture History Society Journal’, vol. 47 (2011) in her monograph Christian Meÿer, a Marquetry Master from St. Petersburg
