Antique French Inlaid Marquetry Writing Table / Desk

A beautiful and quite unusual antique Edwardian leather top writing table. This was made in England, it dates from around 1890-1900. This is very well made and is a useful size, the...

A beautifully designed and extremely well made antique French writing desk. This was made in France, it dates from around the 1930’s. The quali...

An absolutely exquisite antique French inlaid bureau plat desk. This was made in France, it dates from around the 1880-1890 period. It is one of ...

A stunning antique French writing table, also known as an escritoire. This dates from around the 1930’s. It is has a very beautiful and useful design, with a very elegant form. Ther...

A smart and very well made antique Victorian period writing desk. This was made in England, it dates from around 1860-1880. It is of great quality and is a very useful size. The ins...

A lovely antique Edwardian desk / writing table, made in England and dating from around the 1890-1910 period. It is of superb quality, with a beautiful and elegant design. The top h...

Purple ebony centre desk - France, 20th century, in the manner of CHARLES TOPINO, XIX century Purple ebony inlaid with fruit wood with veneered top and table representing still life ...

Elegant French Louis XV style parquetry writing desk with fitted interior and gilt mounts. Leather writing surface; standi...

French 19th century Louis XV style marquetry inlaid side table writing desk. Stock number: F129.

A magnificent and very rare Régence style marquetry inlaid grand bureau plat or writing desk. Inscribed to the carcass 'Moreaux 72'. Dating from the second half of the nineteenth century this magnificent and very rare bureau plat has finely cast rocaille gilt-bronze mounts and is decorated overall with truly breath-taking seventeenth century marquetry, depicting fantastical townscapes, knights, soldiers, hunting and architectural-scenes. Of serpentine rectangular form the top is veneered with superb marquetry panels within a foliate scrolled border and a rocaille shell-cast gilt-bronze surround, both sides featuring a recessed central drawer flanked on each side by a drawer applied with male and female terms, scrolled handles, and reserves with conforming drawers; the bombé sides are centred by foliate scrolls, and the whole raised on cabriole legs headed by cartouches with foliate entwined chutes terminating in scrolled sabots. Of impressive scale this fine bureau plat, in the manner of a partners desk, features working drawers to each side. This model of bureau plat was made by a small number of celebrated Parisian cabinet makers in the second half of the 19th century including Beurdeley, Cremer and Befort Jeune. It is incredibly rare to see this model of bureau plat inlaid in marquetry. The exceptional quality and style indicate the use of older reused marquetry, almost certainly dating from the late 17th century and originating from the Augsburg region of Germany. Similar models but lacking the exceptional marquetry inlay can be found in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Bowhill, and the Earl of Normanton at Somerlely. Christopher Payne notes that the latter was part of a pair sold by the London dealer Toms & Luscombe in 1871. He illustrates the present bureau plat in his book ‘European Furniture of the 19th Century’ (p. 88-89), along with two related desks minus the marquetry inlay (p. 92 -93). The exceptional and highly complex marquetry inlay and intarsia work, that sets this important bureau plat apart from other extant examples, would originally have formed the decorative panels of a late 17th century table cabinet, almost certainly ascribable to the Augsburg region of Germany. Augsburg emerged from the middle of the 16th century as the German centre of luxury cabinet making for the international market. In particular, the development of marquetry contributed to this prominent position, favoured by the ready availability of indigenous woods and the reputation that Augsburg had the best craftsmen able to cut thin layers of veneers in the most intricate motifs (C.S. Wood, ‘The Perspective Treatise in Ruins: Lorenz Stöer, Geometria et perspectiva, 1567’, Studies in the History of Art, no. 59, p. 246). Table cabinets, conceived as a form of Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities, were intended as repositories for all manner of wondrous and exotic objects and by the 1550s the grandest cabinets in Europe were being made in Augsburg. Decorated almost entirely with sumptuous marquetry, often depicting perspective views of ruins and fantastical townscapes, they become by the 1590s highly regarded as important diplomatic gifts. Fine Augsburg marquetry panels remained popular throughout the ages and were frequently re-used to create or embellish new items of furniture, such as this magnificent bureau plat. Their inclusion was not only for their highly decorative appeal, but to contemporary eyes, a means by which to imbue a new creation with a sense of true historical authenticity. The importance of such panels is often reflected in the high cost involved in repurposing them. A fine example of this is the celebrated 17th century cabinet on stand...

This elegant writing desk was created in France in the late 18th century, during the reign of King Louis XVI (1774-1792). The desk is designed in a refined neoclassical style which w...

Antique French Louis XV style small inlaid petite Demilune writing desk, made in France. Item features marble top, green leather pullout or pull-...