This little table with a figured top standing on curved legs that have chinoiserie elements was probably created by a Western European craftsman in the frist quarter of the eighteenth century in imitation of those being made in the Orient for export to Europe. The black lacquer papier-mâché tray with a low rim painted with "flowers and birds" in toned gold exactly matches the shape of the table-top. Such little tea-tables with inset trays were associated with the traditional Oriental tea ceremony. They appeared in Russia at the beginning of the eighteenth century when tea and coffee came into fashion and were reproduced in numbers by Russian craftsmen and foreigners working in the country.