A mid-19th century Louis XIV style marquetry bureau plat
Tortoiseshell and engraved brass marquetry on softwood and oak, ebony and ebonised wood, ormolu mountings. An opulently designed, flat top writing desk on serpentine square sectioned legs, decorated throughout with fine Boulle marquetry in première and contre partie. Three drawers and a central secret compartment to the apron, accessible via a spring mechanism. Older, restored shrinkage cracks to the top, the marquetry partially filled with varnish, one loss. H 77, W 126.5, D 72 cm.
This table conforms to a type designed by André Charles Boulle around 1710. Its direct, highly comparable predecessor is the desk made for Mademoiselle de Choiseul (currently in a private collection). Boulle probably only produced this model with a leather writing surface, denoting that it was intended for use. However, the similarly designed chest of drawers with a kneehole in the Louvre / Mobilier national (OA 5478) has an inlaid top and sumptuous ormolu mountings, indicating that it was purely a representational piece, not intended for use. This later model adopts the smaller dimensions of the chest of drawers, combining both designs to a harmonious whole.
Provenance
Italian collection.
German private ownership.
Literature
Cf. cat.: Boulle 1642 - 1732, Paris 2009, no. 66, the design by André Charles Boulle and ibd. no. 21, the piece for Madame de Choiseul.
Cf. Alcouffe/Dion-Tenenbaum/Lefébure, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. I, Dijon 1993, no. 26 f.
Cf. Wilson, Baroque and Régence. Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles 2008, no. 12.
A similar piece with a leather writing surface of this style period in: Payne, Stilmöbel Europas, Munich 1990, illus. 70.