Style Japonism, Chinoiserie / Ref.03193

ESCALIER DE CRISTAL, Tea table decorated with Japanese-lacquer

This tea table with two shelves features a classic form for this type of living room furniture. The great originality of this table lies in its decoration, made with a Vernis Martin technique. This technique was invented in the 18th century by the Martin brothers who wanted to imitate the look of Japanese and Chinese lacquers, at a time when these were very rare in the West. After a relative disinterest in the first half of the 19th century, this technique came back into popularity, notably with the advent of the trend for the Far East. Besides the lacquered décor, the decorative designs that adorn the two tops undoubtedly bring to mind decorative Japanese and Chinese repertoires: a couple of fowls is located in a setting of open flowers and birds in flight stand out against a series of mountains reminiscent of Mount Fuji. The lower shelf also acts as part of this repertoire, using two cranes in a lake landscape inhabited by Koi carps. 
This tea table has a label of Escalier de Cristal on the back of the lower shelf, mentioning the name “Pannier, Lahoche and Co.,” which was the name of the company between 1867 and 1885. Also, this label places the stores of Escalier de Cristal at number 1 Auber road and number 6 Scribe road, which allows us to clearly establishes it as being after 1872. However, Philippe Thiebaut has shown that Escalier de Cristal probably did not become a furniture maker before the year 1890. Simple subsequent use of a label printed between 1872 and 1885 or actual manufacturing of furniture by the Escalier de Cristal before 1885?