89. Emmanuel Alfred BEURDELEY (called Alfred II) Rectangular knitting table with a mobile panel forming a flap in front, decorated with amaranth inlays on a lemon tree background with a lattice of leaves. It is decorated with sixteen circular medallions in enamelled copper with polychrome and gold decoration after Coteau in gilt bronze frames. The openwork uprights are joined by a crotch bar crowned with an openwork gilt bronze basket. Ornamentation of chased and gilded bronzes such as rosettes, pearls, foliage and crown. Stamped A. BEURDELEY IN PARIS. Louis XVI style, late 19th century. (Wear and small cracks on the enamelled copper medallions, some scratches and small cracks). H : 74 cm - W : 56,5 cm - D : 35,5 cm. The trough table that we present is the one reproduced in L'Ameublement d'art français 1850-1900, Camille Mestdagh, Les éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2010, page 68 (fig. 71). Provenance : Sale A. Beurdeley, 6 to 9 May 1895, Etude Chevallier, Galerie Georges Petit, lot 283. This table is one of the original creations of Alfred II Beurdeley, inspired by the past by the very structure, intended to serve the works of the ladies, invented, it seems, by Jean-Henri Riesener for Marie-Antoinette on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin in 1781. But by introducing innovative elements such as the inlaid pattern or the cutting of the amounts, unknown in the eighteenth century. The counterpart of this table was made by a certain J. Werner with the use of medallions in the Wedgwood style. In the choice of materials, Beurdeley also shows a borrowing from the 18th century with the use of enamelled copper medallions, the author of which is probably the famous enameller Joseph Coteau. As is often the case with Beurdeley, we observe the use of elements dating from the 18th century associated with a contemporary structure. Joseph Coteau (1740-1812), was one of the most famous dial painters of the second half of the 18th century. He also worked as a painter on jewels and porcelain. He settled in rue Poupée in Paris in 1778. Bibliography : PAYNE, C., Paris, the quintessence of furniture in the nineteenth century, Monelle Hayot editions, 2018. (table by J. Werner reproduced on page 548/ Christie's London, October 1, 2002, lot 96).