The table and table top were made for the renovation in 1761 of the house of the tea merchant Matthijs Herfst (1709-1785). Herfst bought the property, no. 397 Singel, in 1752. It now houses Café Luxembourg. The entrance is on Spui, at nos. 22-24. Little is known about the Frenchman who made the table top except that he worked in Bonn for a long time. The scagliola technique is a cheaper imitation of an Italian speciality, the pietra dure commessi. Both of these techniques create the effect of an optical illusion or trompe l’oeil. It looks like several pieces of paper have been nonchalantly scattered on the table - Matthijs Herfst’s business card, prints with portraits of William of Orange and Prince Maurice, the tea merchant’s house on the Singel, and a map of the Netherlands.