The V&A has two versions of this delicate work table. The other (Museum number 1058-1882) has a slightly more elaborate porcelain plaque, painted with a central basket of flowers. Both were purchased in the nineteenth century by the London collector John Jones, who bequeathed them to the Museum as part of his large collection of French decorative arts. From the 1760s onwards, the French cabinet-maker Martin Carlin, whose stamp appears on this piece, made a speciality of producing small-scale luxury furniture set with painted porcelain plaques. A hundred years later, such pieces were keenly sought by collectors, and John Jones followed the fashion in buying several small pieces set with porcelain or Japanese lacquer.