A Louis XV/XVI Transitional Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Mahogany Cylinder Desk, Stamped G. Durand, after the Model by Jean-Francois Oeben, Circa 1880

Gervais-Maximilien-Eugène Durand (1839-1920), born in Paris on the 30 th July 1839 started work in 1870 at 12 rue de La Cerisaie and moved to the rue de Beautreillis and subsequently to 62 rue St Antoine, the old hotel de Sully. He was the first of three generations of highly successful cabinet makers, exhibiting widely at the International Exhibitions. At the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he was commended as " un ébénistes aussi habile que modeste, quie expose pour la première fois les meubles de premier ordre, dont il est à la fois le dessinateur et l'exécutant; il marche sur la voie tracée par les maîtres tel que Beurdelely et Dasson." (A cabinet maker as skilled as he is humble, he is exhibiting for the first time his furnishing of the hightest standards. 

He established the Maison Durand firm in 1870, which continuously produced top quality 18th century style furniture. In 1890, when Durand's son Frédéric-Louis joined the firm, the name was changed to Durand & Fils