Vintage Regency Baker Marquetry Writing Desk

A fantastic Vintage Regency writing desk. Beautiful hand painted detail with scenes of gladiators. Passed down through three generations in one family. A real collectors piece. Acqui...

An exceptional vintage Regency writing desk. Made by the iconic Maitland Smith group. Beautiful tessellated coconut shell frame with a hand painted leather top. Wrought iron and bras...

Fantastic vintage 1960s Italian Secretary desk. A gorgeous burl Olive wood cabinet with chic vintage brocade lining. A charming little Tole lamp...

A fabulous vintage Boho Campaign style desk. A chic classic case with chrome classic hardware. Rests on two sawhorse pedestals. Acquired from a Palm Beach estate.

A fabulous vintage Coastal writing desk. Chic wrapped rattan on a clean Parsons style frame. Glass rests on rattan cross bars. Can also be a great dining table. You decide! Acquired ...

An exceptional vintage Regency desk. A soaring Secretary style with lots of little areas for storage. A beautiful Mahogany case that has a beautif...

This listing is for a vintage Baker Furniture Regency style burled writing desk. Featuring a beautiful rectangular burled wood top, Regency sty...

An exceptional English Regency style writing desk or console table By Baker Furniture USA, Circa 1940s Carved mahogany, with embossed leather top, and original brass hardware and ...

An exceptional Regency or Georgian style drop leaf writing desk, console, or sofa table By Baker Furniture USA, Circa 1980s Gorgeous book-mat...

An exceptional Regency style writing desk or console table By Baker Furniture USA, Circa 1980s Burled walnut, with original brass ...

19th century English Regency style mahogany writing table (desk) with inset green leather top above 2 frieze drawers to either side on trestle supports and splayed legs.

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...