The J. Paul Getty Museum

Like many other important ébénistes of the 1700s, Adam Weisweiler was German-born. Although scholars know nothing about his apprenticeship and early training, church records show that he was established in Paris in 1777, the year he was married. He became a maître-ébéniste (master cabinetmaker) in 1778, set up his workshop in the unfashionable quarter of Paris on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and worked mainly for the marchands-merciers. These middlemen, such as Dominique Daguerre, would then sell Weisweiler's works to members of the French court, including Queen Marie-Antoinette, the king of Naples, and England's Prince Regent (later George IV).

Weisweiler produced Neoclassical-style furniture using mainly plain veneers instead of pictorial marquetry. He also frequently made furniture set with lacquer or pietre dure panels or Sèvres porcelain plaques, to obtain distinctive effects.