Louis XV Desks and Writing Tables

A Louis XV style gilt-bronze mounted bureau plat in the manner of Charles Cressent. French, circa 1890. With one central frieze drawer and two shaped end drawers, on cabriole ...

Antique French Louis XV style ormolu mounted marquetry desk by Maison Léger French, c. 1880 Height 80cm, width 185cm, depth 98cm This very impressive desk was crafted around 1880 by...

A Louis XV Style gilt-bronze mounted bureau plat by François Linke. The rectangular top inset with a green leather writing surface with gilt-tooled border, within a gilt-bronze su...

An outstanding Louis XV-style mahogany bureau plat after a model by Jacques B. Dubois, from the estate of Phyllis McGuire, the shaped leather-inset top above an elaborate frieze with...

Unusual Transition style marquetry and gilt bronze double sided writing desk French, early 20th Century Height 98cm, width 130cm, depth 94cm This rare doubled-sided writing desk...

A fine and Important Louis XV style Bureau plat attributed to François Linke (1855-1946) after a model by Jean François Oeben. Typical of the work by François Linke, this desk featur...

19th century French Louis XV style walnut kidney shaped kneehole desk with gilt trim and brass scroll handles.

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...

Superior craftsmanship and elegant bronze work characterize this tambour front roll top writing desk by François Linke, the most important French ébéniste of his time. Linke is celeb...

Rococo style writing desk mounted with gilt bronze French, late 19th century Measures: Height 78cm, width 134cm, depth 64cm This superb ...

Louis XV style gilt bronze mounted writing desk by Poteau French, late 19th century Size: Height 78cm, width 180cm, depth 87cm This beautiful Louis XV style writing desk is rais...

French Louis XV style 19th century kingwood inlaid veneer desk with inset brown leather top with gilt embossed edge design with a brass top border and brass fluted trim legs and feet.

French Louis XV style (20th Century) desk with a parquetry inlaid top and gilt bronze trim with a single drawer.

Form and function converge in this exceptional Louis XV-style bureau plat graced with eight elegant Sèvres Porcelain plaques. Framing these delightful, hand painted floral and fowl-themed plaques is a network of exquisite gilt bronze. Supporting the leather-topped table are graceful cabriole legs, a hallmark of fine Louis XV taste, that are crowned by gilt bronze caryatids and terminate in gilt bronze mounts. What makes this desk even more stunning is the inclusion of three concealed drawers that are opened only by the spring-loaded secret release mechanisms located underneath. The first porcelain mounted furnishings appeared sometime in the mid-18th century in the shops of the foremost Parisian art dealers. These furnishings successfully, and quite beautifully, married renowned Sèvres Porcelain with fine furniture to create a new segment of the decorative arts that appealed greatly to the aristocracy, especially women. The Duchesse de Mazarin, Comtesse du Barry, Marie-Antoinette and the Grand Duchess Maria...

A Fine Bureau Plat in the Manner of André-Charles Boulle Constructed in ebony with arabesque foliate cut brass inlays, with premiere-partie panels set with tortoiseshell grounds and brass inlay work, and having extensive fine quality ormolu mounts; rising from animal paw sabots, mounted with female masks at the shoulders; the apron housing three drawers, with faux drawers to the obverse, the central drawers set with a Bacchic mask issuing foliates, the platform of serpentine form, having a brass guard edge, and inset with a gilt tooled morocco leather. Stamped to the carcass ‘BF’ and ‘Gros’. French, Circa 1870 Denise Ledoux-Lebard’s ‘Le Mobilier Français du XIXe Siecle’. Published by les Editions de l’Amateur, 2000, lists a Benjamin Gros, whose enterprise amalgamated with the noted ebeniste Winckelsen in 1871; Gros had received an honourable mention for his ‘Boulle’ furniture in the Exposition Universelle in 1855. Literature; Le Mobilier Francais (qv) Seymour de Ricci, Batsford 1929 ‘Louis XIV and Regence Furniture...

This beautiful desk, beautifully finished in kingwood, leather and gilt bronze, is a fantastic piece of 19th century French design in the Louis XV style. Elegant, beautifully crafted...

A Louis XV Style gilt bronze-mounted parquetry inlaid writing-table, by François Linke. French, circa 1890. Stamped 'FL' to the reverse of the centre bronze mounts to the front...

A very fine bureau plat in the manner of Edward Holmes Baldock. After a model by C.C. Saunier. English made, in the Louis XVth taste, constructed in kingwood, with purpleheart crossbanding and adorned with bleu celeste porcelain plaques with hand-painted floral decoration and extensive fire gilt bronze mounts; rising from cabriole legs with brass sabots and bronze enrichments, in the apron, the one large central drawer is flanked by two smaller drawers with twenty four ‘Sevres’ porcelain plaques enclosed in symmetrical gilt bronze boss studded frames, chased and with a sand form ground. The serpentine top framed with a conforming bronze guard...

A rare gilt bronze mounted marquetry pedestal desk by François Linke. French, circa 1900. Linke Index Number 711. Linke title ‘Bureau LXV à 8 pieds’. Stamped to the insi...

A rare and unusual Louis XV style gilt-bronze mounted and marquetry inlaid Bureau de Dame by François Linke. French, circa 1890. Signed to the gilt-bronze rim ‘Linke’. Stampe...

French Louis XV style (19th Century) Verne Martin painted desk with bronze trim.

French Louis XV style (19th Century) provincial oak kneehole desk with brown leather top.

French Louis XV style (19th Century) kingwood lady's desk with Sevres porcelain panels and bronze trimmed gallery.

French Louis XV style (19/20th Century) walnut table desk with gilt trim and stretcher.

Of classical rectangular form, the four cabriole legs capped by ormolu female masks, with a further two masks to the sides, with three drawers and a leather writing surface

French Louis XV style (19th Century) kingwood table desk with parquetry inlay and floral marquetry border and a single drawer with gilt bronze trim (signed: LINKE)

A ladies writing table in the Louis XV transitional manner. Of freestanding form, constructed in kingwood, with good marquetry inlays, and having gilt bronze mounts; rising from swept cabriole legs with foliate form bronze sabots, and foliate espagnolettes over; the apron houses a lockable central drawer, with gilt bronze handles and a keyhole escutcheon; the shaped serpentine platform having a centrally situated floral bouquet, within a trellis delineated ground, the whole having a gilt bronze guard...

French Louis XV-style (19th Century) kingwood veneer end table with 2 drawer (top drawer for writing) with an inlaid top and gilt bronze trim.

French Louis XV style (19th Century) kingwood veneer desk with 5 drawers and gold tooled leather top with bronze sabot feet and escutcheons.