Jean Baptiste Courte. A Louis XVI mahogany bureau plat

Jean Baptiste Courte (1749-1843)
A Louis XVI Period bureau plat Writing Desk
Plum pudding mahogany, Cuban mahogany veneer, pine and oak structure, chased and gilded bronze
Stamped COURTE on the upper part of the right drawer
Louis XVI Period, Dijon circa 1780

Jean Baptiste Kurth (1749-1843), known as Jean Courte, German born cabinetmaker who became a master in Dijon in 1777.

Height: 75 cm, Height with tier: 93 cm, Width: 130.5 cm, Depth: 80,5 cm


This finely crafted writing desk features plum pudding mahogany panels framed in gilt bronze and surrounded by blond Cuban mahogany veneer. The rectangular top, with its elegant rounded corners, is covered in dark green leather, gilt with small decorative tools. A removable tier with mahogany compartments is positioned on top of the desk. It opens with two long drawers, constructed of oak and locking with a key, and it stands on four tapered and fluted legs of solid mahogany, adorned with gilt bronze rings and ending with sabots and casters.

Jean Baptiste Kurth, known as Jean Courte (a French version of his name), was a German-born cabinetmaker born in 1749 in the village of Medelsheim, in the county of Zweibrücken, a territory bordering France, where his father Johan Kurth practiced as a carpenter. Probably after completing his apprenticeship, he settled in Dijon, Burgundy, where he became a master cabinetmaker on September 20, 1777, as evidenced by the payment of 15 pounds for the right to inhabit and practice the profession of cabinetmaker. In 1779 he married Marguerite Sesseley, daughter of a Swiss cabinetmaker, François Philippe Sesseley, who like him had immigrated and settled in Dijon. Jean-Baptiste Courte was a member in 1785 of the assemblies of the community of cabinetmakers in the city of Dijon, alongside his father-in-law Philippe Sesseley and the Demoulin father and son.

Capital of Burgundy a territory administered by the Princes of Condé, Dijon in the 18th century was the seat of a parliament, where a prosperous nobility built and decorated townhouses between courtyards and gardens, as well as country houses like the marvelous châteaux of Montmuzard, Vantoux, or Arcelot, enabling the rise of local cabinetmakers such as the Demoulin family or Jean-Baptiste Courte, whose influence extended as far as Paris. After a prosperous life, Courte passed away at his home on Rue du Tillot in Dijon, on April 28, 1843, at the age of 94.