The V&A has two versions of this delicate work table. The other (Museum number 1058-1882) has a slightly more elaborate porcelain plaque, painted with a central basket of flowers. Both were purchased in the nineteenth century by the London collector John Jones, who bequeathed them to the Museum as part of his large collection of French decorative arts. From the 1760s onwards, the French cabinet-maker Martin Carlin, whose stamp appears on this piece, made a speciality of producing small-scale luxury furniture set with painted porcelain plaques. A hundred years later, such pieces were keenly sought by collectors, and John Jones followed the fashion in buying several small pieces set with porcelain or Japanese lacquer. Work table (Table à ouvrage), French, 1776, veneered in tulipwood and set with porcelain and gilt bronze mounts; with the stamp of Martin Carlin. Possibly commissioned by Simon-Philippe Poirier and Dominique Daguerre. A double-tiered circular work table, raised on a tripod support, the top tier set with a Sèvres porcelain plaque decorated with sprigs of flowers, the lower tier set with marquetry of scrolls. The table is veneered with tulipwood and other woods on a carcase of oak, the drawers lined with velvet and watered silk and edged with braid; drawer fittings of gilt-bronze and castors of lignum vitae.