ATTRIBUTED TO HEINRICH GAMBS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This elegant centre-table is embellished with finely-chased frieze mounts and is supported by slender incurved legs. Its richness and form can suppport an attribution to the cabinet-maker Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831), who trained under David Roentgen and came to St. Petersburg in 1789. It relates to a rectangular occasional table, which Gambs supplied to Pavlovsk in 1804, when Andrei Voronikhin (1760-1814) was rebuilding the palace (H. Stuchley, Die Familie Gambs, Weltkunst 11 (1995), p. 2957.

Gambs began his career in his native Germany under David Roentgen, later moving to Russia where by 1793, he became a leading figure amongst the cabinet makers of St. Petersburg. Gambs was principally employed in supplying the Imperial residences, including Pavlovsk, Tsarkoe Selo and the Winter Palace. By the end of the 18th Century, Empress Maria Feodorovna was one of his most important clients. Gambs had one section of his workshop devoted solely to the casting and gilding of bronze, distinguishing him from many of his contemporaries. These exacting standards can be seen in the mounts of the current table.