The interest in French stylistic trends in Piedmont originally manifested in the

interior decoration of Savoy royal residences under the reign of Carlo Emanuele III

(1701–73). It continued under the rule of his son Vittorio Amedeo III (1726–96), who

ascended to the throne in 1773. The dynastic links of the house of Savoy with the

French and Spanish crowns and with the Dukes of Parma fostered the development of the Piedmontese court style into an international Neoclassicism. This found its full realisation in the 1780s with the renovation of several rooms in the Turin Royal Palace, the Stupinigi Castle and the palaces at Moncalieri, Venaria, Racconigi and Rivoli. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century this court style assumed a more defined identity, fully in line with the Luis XVI style, in the works of the architects Francesco Valeriano Dellala di Beinasco (1731–1803), Filippo Castelli (1738–c. 1820), Giuseppe Piacenza (1735–1818) and Carlo Randoni (1785–1831), the carver-decorators Ludovico Tesio (1731–82) and Leonardo Marini (fl. 1760–1806) and the master carver Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (1745–1820). Most importantly, the motif of intertwined ribbons found all around the legs of the present table could be found also in the window frames in the Duchess of Aosta’s Apartment on the top floor of the Turin Royal Palace. Those are documented as being made by Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo in 1790. Bonzanigo, together with Piffetti and Maggiolini, is considered one of the most outstanding furniture makers and carvers of the late 18th century with his pieces inspired by the sculptural as well as the architectural disciplines.

Works attributed to Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo have traditionally represented the best Italian neo-classical furniture ever sculpted. His work is characterized by the departure from the traditional Franco-Piedmontese School of furniture inlay and cabinet-making in favour of the more predominant use of carving, a technique which Bonzanigo took to a truly formal apotheosis especially in the works realised for the Royal family: Born in Asti in 1745, first son of Giovanna Margherita Burzio, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo settled in Turin 1773. The following year he was elected to the Compagnia of San Luca. He worked for the Savoy Court for the next twenty years as a sculptor, wood-carver and cabinet-maker. In 1787, he was appointed official wood-carver to Victor Amadeus III, King of Savoy. In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon and the return of the Savoy family to Italy, he was re-instated as royal sculptor.