Until 27 April 2020, the First Antechamber of the Catherine Palace houses a remarkable piece from the private collection of the Karisalov family, an eighteenth-century German metamorphic table used by Catherine the Great.

The one piece exhibition titled A Universal Table of the Russian Empress is our third co-project with collector Mikhail Karisalov. His previously undisplayed works of various arts were showcased at Tsarskoe Selo in the 2012 exhibition Treasures from a Private Collection and portrait masterpieces in the 2016 exhibition A Look from the Past.

The current exhibit is an oak table with palmwood veneer, gilt bronze and brass. It was produced by David Roentgen (1748–1807), a famous German cabinetmaker. During 1784–90, Catherine II was the most important client of his workshop in Neuwied, which sent five large shipments of furniture to St Petersburg. The first four shipments were commissions by the empress and the last one by other clients. 

According to George Himmelheber, a known German expert in the art of furniture, Roentgen was far ahead of his time with his creations like this multiple-use table for dressing, writing, reading and drawing.

Judging by a partially surviving paper label, Catherine received the table in 1784. It ended up in the State Hermitage and went abroad during the sales of Leningrad’s museum masterpieces in the 1930s. Mikhail Karisalov purchased it from the renowned Gallerie Popoff et Co in Paris.

The Roentgen table of Catherine the Great is available for viewing during a palace tour.