Antique French Writing Table Desk Bureau Plat, circa 1860

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Antique French Writing Table Desk Bureau Plat, circa 1860

About the Item

This is a gorgeous large antique French ormolu-mounted kingwood and flame mahogany bureau plat, circa 1870 in date. Featuring fabulous decorative ormolu mounts this table is sure to get noticed wherever it is placed. It has it's original inset dark tan leather writing surface and decorative gilded ormolu mounts that outline the top of the desk. There are four useful and capacious drawers, two on the left, one in the center and a double depth drawer on the right. It stands on elegant cabriole legs that terminate in ormolu sabots. It is finished on all sides so that it can stand freely in the middle of a room, making it extremely suitable for a large home or office. With original working locks and keys. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully restored in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. The leather shows signs of wear commensurate with age, but this adds character. Dimensions in cm: Height 78 x width 152 x depth 81. Dimensions in inches: Height 2 feet, 7 inches x width 5 feet x depth 2 feet, 8 inches. Kingwood: Is a classic furniture wood, almost exclusively used for inlays on very fine furniture. Occasionally it is used in the solid for small items and turned work, including parts of billiard cues, e.g., those made by John Parris. It is brownish-purple with many fine darker stripes and occasional irregular swirls. Occasionally it contains pale streaks of a similar colour to sapwood. The wood is very dense and hard and can be brought to a spectacular finish. it turns well but due to its density and hardness can be difficult to work with hand tools. It also has a tendency to blunt the tools due to its abrasive properties. Flame mahogany: Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as "best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed." Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called "flame mahogany." The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree. Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th century English term for applying finely ground, high-karat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. No true ormolu was produced in France after, circa 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil).

Dimensions:
Height: 30.71 in (78 cm)Width: 59.85 in (152 cm)Depth: 31.89 in (81 cm)
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1860-1869
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1860
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 070751stDibs: LU95064970333