An elegant French Art Deco extending dining table attributed to Alfred Porteneuve, executed c.1930 in deeply French-polished rosewood with slender polished nickel-silver sabots. The table is a true dual-function piece: closed, it presents as a refined 99.5 cm square — a games table, a centre table, or an intimate salon dining piece for four. Opened by way of an articulated period extension mechanism, the top draws out to a rectangular dining surface of approximately two metres, comfortably seating eight.
The four legs are the table's defining gesture. Each is a tall, slightly concave sabre, swept outward in a soft S-curve from the corner of the apron and tapered to a narrow point capped in a slim conical nickel sabot with a fine ball terminal. The vocabulary is unmistakably Porteneuve — refined, weightless, almost calligraphic, and distinct from the heavier silvered-bronze or fluted legs his uncle Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann favoured in the previous decade.
The apron is plain, deep, and unornamented, allowing the figure of the rosewood and the geometry of the legs to do all the work. There is no carving, no inlay, no marquetry — the piece relies entirely on three things: the figure of the timber, the depth of the French polish, and the proportional relationship between the slender supports and the substantial top. That economy of means, combined with the architectural restraint of the silhouette, is consistent with Porteneuve's mature style in the years immediately following his takeover of the Ruhlmann atelier in 1933.
The French polish has been recently refreshed; the surface is mirror-bright with even depth and no clouding. The original extension mechanism is fully functional and the period cruciform articulated leaves are intact. Nickel sabots retain their original polish.
A versatile and quietly authoritative piece — equally at home in a Parisian salon, a contemporary dining room, or a games room — and a strong example of the disciplined, architectural language Porteneuve developed as he carried the Ruhlmann tradition into the late Art Deco period.

About the designer
Alfred Porteneuve (Paris, 1896–1949) was a French architect and designer whose career is closely tied to that of his uncle, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, the foremost cabinetmaker of French Art Deco. Porteneuve trained in architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and joined Ruhlmann's atelier early in his career, contributing to landmark commissions including the Hôtel du Collectionneur pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes — the exhibition that gave the Art Deco movement its name.
Following Ruhlmann's death in 1933, Porteneuve took over the direction of the atelier and continued producing furniture under his own name through the 1930s and 1940s. His mature work refined Ruhlmann's vocabulary toward a more architectural, restrained idiom — sabre legs, plain aprons, exotic timbers, and discreet metalwork in nickel or silvered bronze — while preserving the workshop's exacting standards of cabinetry, French polish, and material selection. Today Porteneuve is recognised as one of the most accomplished designers working in the Ruhlmann tradition, and his furniture is held in major Art Deco collections in Paris, London, and New York.
Condition
French polish refreshed; surface mirror-bright with even depth. Extension mechanism original and fully functional. Cruciform articulated leaves intact. Polished nickel sabots retain original finish. Overall excellent restored condition.