Bureau Plat Paris, Circa 1880 acajou, satine and amarante, gilt-tooled brown leather top, two frieze drawers Height 29 1/2 in. (74.93 cm,) Width 39 in. (99.06 cm.) Depth 19 1/2 (49.53 cm.) Literature: S.de Ricci, Der Stil Louis XVI Mobilier und Raumkunst, p.89; and P. Kjelberg. Le Meuble Francais et Europeen du Moyen Age a nos Jours, p.8, for illustrations of the 18th century model in the Salon Huet in the Musee Nissim de Camondo, Paris. The original desk, with a green marble tablet, was in the Joseph Poniatowski Collection and subsequently that of Jaques Doucet (1912, n.315). The construction of the present lot suggests the work of the Durand Family, although they would normally use walnut for the drawer linings whereas the present lot uses oak. It is interesting to note that the cabinetmaker has made the drawer linings intentionally two millimeters thicker on the linings at the center of the frieze then the outer linings.
