Riesener’s designs do not show much fertility, but his work is highly finished and elaborate.  His method was generally to make the centre panel of a commode front, or the frieze of a table, a tour de force, the marqueterie picture being wonderfully delicate.  The subject was generally a vase with fruits and flowers; the surface of the side panels inlaid with diamond-shaped lozenges, or a small diaper pattern in marqueterie; and then a framework of rich ormolu would separate the panels.  The centre panel had sometimes a richer frame.  His famous commode, made for the Chateau of Fontainebleau, which cost a million francs (L4,000)—­an enormous sum in those days—­is one of his chefs d’oeuvre, and this is an excellent example of his style.  A similar commode was sold in the Hamilton Palace sale for L4,305.  An upright secretaire, en suite with the commode, was also sold at the same time for L4,620, and the writing table for L6,000.  An illustration of the latter is on the following page, but the details of this elaborate gem of cabinet maker’s work, and of Gouthiere’s skill in mounting, are impossible to reproduce in a woodcut.  It is described as follows in Christie’s catalogue:—­

“Lot 303.  An oblong writing table, en suite, with drawer fitted with inkstand, writing slide and shelf beneath; an oval medallion of a trophy and flowers on the top, and trophies with four medallions round the sides:  stamped T. Riesener and branded underneath with cypher of Marie Antoinette, and Garde Meuble de la Reine.”  There is no date on the table, but the secretaire is stamped 1790, and the commode 1791.  If we assume that the table was produced in 1792, these three specimens, which have always been regarded as amongst the most beautiful work of the reign, were almost the last which the unfortunate Queen lived to see completed.

[Illustration:  The “Marie Antoinette” Writing Table. (Formerly in the Hamilton Palace Collection.)]

[Illustration:  Bedstead of Marie Antoinette, From Fontainebleau.  Collection “Mobilier National.” (From a pen and ink drawing by H. Evans.) Period:  Louis XVI.]

The fine work of Riesener required the mounting of an artist of quite equal merit, and in Gouthiere he was most fortunate.  There is a famous clock case in the Hertford collection, fully signed “Gouthiere, ciseleur et doreur du roi a Paris Quai Pelletier, a la Boucle d’or, 1771.”  He worked, however, chiefly in conjunction with Riesener and David Roentgen for the decoration of their marqueterie.

In the Louvre are some beautiful examples of this co-operative work; and also of cabinets in which plaques of very fine black and gold lacquer take the place of marqueterie; the centre panel being a finely chased oval medallion of Gouthiere’s gilt bronze, with caryatides figures of the same material at the ends supporting the cornice.

[Illustration:  Cylinder Secretaire, In Marqueterie, with Bronze Gilt Mountings, by Gouthiere. (Mr. Alfred de Rothschild’s Collection.) Period:  Louis XVI.]