The Danish cabinetmaker Mathias Ortmann (1692–1757) was born in Sweden as the son of a cabinetmaker. The family moved to Copenhagen to open a workshop in the Nyhavn area. Early on, Ortmann became an apprentice in his father's workshop, which produced furniture for Frederik IV's brother Prince Carl's “Charlottenborg” Palace. Ortmann's mother continued the workshop after the father's death in 1723. Two years later Ortmann passed his final test, and in 1727 he obtained citizenship as a cabinetmaker. It was on a Grand Tour around Europe, mainly to Louis XV's France, that Ortmann experienced the benefit of signing his furniture. The label is today the collector's guarantee of “a genuine Ortmann”. However, not all Ortmann furniture carries the coveted signature – he only used it in the period 1745–1757.

Provenance: Previously in the merchant Mr Louis Foght's collection, sold at A.B.R. auction 118 lot 36 in 1960 and again later in 1999, auction 650 lot 562 for a collector.

The textile manufacturer Louis Foght died in 1958. According to his will, the business as well as the proceeds from the sale of a substantial art collection should accrue to a fund established in 1960.