A Louis XIV 'Boulle' marquetry bureau plat, early 18th century, attributed to Bernard Van Risamburgh Ist

A desk with a similar shape and almost similar Boulle marquetry was in the collection of the Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore, Sotheby’s London, 18^th May 1977, lot 125. Another very similar one is kept at the V&A Museum in London (ref. 1014:1, 2-1882).  The design of this desk is very interesting as it shows the transition from the Louis XIV to the Regency style. As in the Louis XIV period, the search for new forms was based on aesthetics as well as on questions of use. The rich ornamentation of gilded bronze, which in turn enhanced the rich marquetry decorations, gradually gave way to simple veneers of very beautiful precious woods such as the amaranth on our desk. Our desk can be considered as a kind of prototype which takes up the innovations of the commodes which put all the drawers on the same level, unlike the old Mazarin desks which also rested on eight legs. They are directly reminiscent of André-Charles Boulle's two-drawer commodes known as "en huche", two of which are in the Louvre. The attribution of this desk to Bernard Van Risamburgh the elder is based on the almost patterns of the marquetry of a casket forming secrétaire which is attributed to BVRB Ist by Jean-Néré Ronfort and Dominique Augarde in the catalogue of the exhibition of André-Charles Boulle, p. 296. The marquetry casket and the desk of the V&A Museum shows great similarity to our desk.