H. 77 cm (30 ¼ in.); L. 150 cm (59 in.); D. 77 cm (30 ¼ in.)
‑Baron Gustave de Rothschild (1829‑1911), Paris
This exquisite desk is stamped “B.V.R.B” for Bernard II van Risenburgh, the most important cabinetmaker working in the Rococo style. He created about half a dozen desks with similar dimensions and ornaments to the present one. Each one presents little variations in the bronzes or in the design of the marquetry. The elegant foliage scrolls adorning the drawers of the present desk vary from the usual S-shaped foliage swirls.
Two comparable desks are housed in US public collections, one in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 44123) and the second one, slightly smaller, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 1974.356.186).