Louis XVI period desk

Paris, circa 1780
Stamped by Ferdinand Bury
Dimensions: H. 78 x W. 147 x D. 78 cm

This desk is stamped by the famous cabinetmaker Ferdinand Bury, who was awarded a master's degree in Paris in 1774. Specializing in important or ingenious furniture, Bury did not neglect bronze ornamentation, which he often entrusted to Ravrio, Thomire's emulator. Ferdinand Bury also collaborated with Riesener, as evidenced by a chest of drawers in the Musée du Louvre bearing both their stamps.

This desk is in rosewood and amaranth veneer. This combination provides a magnificent contrast of colors and adds refinement to the strict lines of the Louis XVI period. The elegantly tapered square legs are veneered with the same combination of precious woods. Made in Paris around 1780, this desk demonstrates Bury's avant-garde style, whose lines already foreshadowed the subsequent Directoire style.

Quality details include the left-hand pedestal, which features two drawers without a crossbar to achieve visual symmetry with the right-hand pedestal, which has a single cash drawer. In the veneer, boxwood fillets are positioned with great precision between amaranth and rosewood, in the drawers and false drawers, in the simulated fluting on the uprights and in the reserves on the legs. Finally, the sides feature exactly the same marquetry ornamentation, and are executed with the same care.
Two side pulls enlarge the work surface. The ornamentation of finely chased and gilded bronzes features original elements such as high hooves ending in balls, rich keyhole escutcheons, and rings at the top of the legs, whose bright gilding highlights the dark amaranth used there.

The rectangular top is sheathed in beautifully crafted red-brown gilded leather made later. Its overhang is visually perfect. This is an all-round desk, also known as a "middle desk". Indeed, marquetry and bronze ornamentation decorate the two wide sides, allowing this desk to be placed in the middle of a room; as always on Parisian desks, the drawers open on one side only, but the opposite side features perfectly simulated drawers.

This piece of furniture is in a superb state of preservation, with no replacings or piercings, and no structural modifications whatsoever. It was beautifully restored some fifteen years ago, and its buffer varnish has a lovely patina. There are a few very minor accidents visible on the photos, but the absence of a recent restoration means that we can offer this beautiful signed desk at a very attractive price.