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The Breteuil Table, also known as the Table de Teschen, was gifted to diplomat Louis Charles Auguste Le Tonnelier, Baron de Breteuil, in 1780. It remains Johann Christian Neuber’s uncontested masterpiece thanks to its daring design, skilled execution and prestigious provenance.

Both a piece of furniture and jewellery, made of gilt bronze laid over a wood core, the table is inlaid with 128 semi-precious stones, completed by allegorical medallions for peace in Meissen porcelain on its oval top. A 1780 booklet accompanies the table, identifying each of its gemstones.

The precious materials employed in its creation connects it to the jeweller’s art, and its design, reminiscent of a mineral cabinet of curiosities, makes it an unexpected and stunning showcase of the rise of the natural sciences in the Age of Enlightenment.

A treasure of European history, the Table de Breteuil is, to many historians, emblematic of the Treaty of Teschen. Diplomats consider this the first modern treaty through which two nations, France and Russia, acted as guarantors of the peace established between Austria and Prussia and, more broadly, of European security as a whole.

Thanks to the generosity of more than 4,500 donors, this stunning table found a fitting home in the new galleries dedicated to 18th-century Decorative Arts at the Louvre.