First appearing circa 1670, the bureau Mazarin was the first design in the Louis XIV style. Featuring a wooden panel overlying a row of drawers, this desk comprises a recessed niche flanked by cabinets on each side. The predecessor of the bureau ministre, whose drawers descend to the floor, this new desk is distinguished by a singular underframe. Its drawers are mounted on eight twinned legs (4+4) joined by a set of crosspieces in the form of an X or an H.
This smaller-sized Louis XIV desk is made of wood marquetry or Boulle marquetry. At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, it was replaced by the bureau plat, also called a table à écrire. For more comfort, the latter comprises only three drawers in a row and four curved legs in the cabriole shape. The niche disappears, and the plateau is ringed with moulding. The Boulle marquetry is still present.
