manufactured by J. E. RENOTTE (1790-1865) for the Industrial Exhibition in Brussels in 1830, column frame veneered with various hardwoods including maple and burlwood, gadrooned, on 3 volute feet and brass castors, column base in the plinth area carved with high quality ornamental and floral motifs and in the form of acanthus leaves, partly ebonized, all-round beaded, grooved and palmette decoration, round top with satinwood veneer in ray form, with 3 retractable legs, geometric and palmette decoration; when the top is unscrewed or removed, a push button built into the column shaft opens a small drawer containing an iron crank - the latter is used to crank the column shaft (after one of the slats in the column shaft has been removed) and allows the column shaft to be raised until rosewood music stand shelves can be extended at the end - these folded music stands, previously located in the slats of the column shaft, are unfolded and placed on the brackets; supplemented bronze candlesticks as finial, dimensions of the table: height c. 74 cm, diameter of the top c. 133 cm, dimensions as music stand frame: height c. 180 cm (with bronze candlestick originally not part of this piece c. 202 cm), diameter with attandached music stands c. 126 cm, signs of age and use. (DOC)

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The present item is subject to conservation legislation (ASB).

This charming transformer table, ("table à divers usages") for a music-making quintet was created by J. E. RENOTTE from Belgium in 1830 and was awarded a silver medal at the 1835 Industrial Exhibition in Brussels ("L' Exposition des produits de l’Industrie en 1835"). The exhibition for which the table was initially built (July 1830) was the last under Dutch rule. A few months after the Industrial Exhibition, Belgium became an independent and sovereign State.

Lit.:
- Exposition Générale des produits de l'Industrie Nationale à Bruxelles, p. 227, no. 845, Juillet 1830,
-La Belgique Industrielle, compte rendu de l'Exposition des produits de l'Industrie en 1835, p. 177-179, p. 349, Chap. XXXII, Ébénisterie et Menuiserie, Louis Hauman et Comp., Libraires, Bruxelles 1836