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Writing Desk

Attributed (French, active 1730's)
Additional Title(s)
  • Bureau Plat
  • Library Table
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
Dateca. 1730
Mediumoak and walnut carcase veneered with kingwood; gilt bronze mounts; modern leather top.
Dimensions32 3/16 x 77 x 39 1/4 in. (81.8 x 195.6 x 99.7 cm.)
InscribedA typewritten rectangular paper label inside the central drawer: Louis XV TABLE BUREAU / ..x. Coll'n Bishop of Toledo. Duveen label: 24903.
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Label TextThe fine bronze mounts, loosely recalling Asian pavilions, that decorate this desk have led scholars to attribute it to the so-called Pagoda Master, an as-yet-unidentified cabinetmaker active in Paris in the 1730s. The fascination with Asian ornament, or chinoiserie, developed as trade routes to the East brought artifacts and other examples of Chinese and Japanese design to Europe. This desk combines Asian-inspired escutcheons with traditional European subject matter, seen in the allegorical heads and masks mounted along the legs and side panels.
Status
On view
Object number13.4
Writing Desk
Charles Cressent
1723-1730
Object number: 27.18
Writing Desk
André-Charles Boulle the elder
1700-1705, with later alterations
Object number: 25.12
Desk
Joseph Baumhauer
ca. 1763
Object number: 27.132
Writing Desk
Etienne Doirat
1720-1732
Object number: 11.27
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Adam Weisweiler
1785
Object number: 27.21
Writing table
Joseph Baumhauer
ca. 1765 with mid 19th Century alterations
Object number: 27.137
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Pierre Garnier
1762-1765
Object number: 11.28
Fall-front Secretary
Bernard Molitor
secretary: 1812-1816; plaques: center:1783, left:1774, right:1777
Object number: 27.22
Mechanical Writing Table
Jean-François Oeben
1755-1765
Object number: 27.185
Writing desk
Martin Carlin
ca. 1771
Object number: 27.122
Writing Table
Bernard Molitor
ca.1788-1796
Object number: 16.12
Writing desk
Martin Carlin
ca. 1770
Object number: 27.121