Jean-Henri Riesener
Furniture by one of the greatest cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century
Riesener in the Royal Collection
The sale of royal and aristocratic property during the French Revolution made it newly possible for English collectors to acquire pieces by the best eighteenth-century French cabinet-makers. George IV was the first of the celebrated collectors of Riesener furniture. It is unclear whether he acquired the pieces for their historical associations with the Court of Louis XVI, or for the magnificence of their gilt-bronze mounts and marquetry.