Object Description
French gilt bronze and marquetry writing desk after Cressent
French, late 19th Century
Height 79cm, width 134cm, depth 76cm
This very fine desk was retailed by the celebrated English retailers Edwards & Roberts and was designed and crafted in France in the manner of Charles Cressent, who worked during the early eighteenth century in the Régence style. The desk is crafted from rich dark wood finished with chequerboard marquetry and fixed with gilt bronze mounts. The desk features a flat tabletop bordered in gilt bronze, which is raised above an apron and four cabriole legs. The apron features three drawers to the front, each affixed with gilt bronze mounts in a foliate style and modelled as theatrical masks, while the sides of the apron are affixed with gilt bronze grotesques. The four legs feature ornate foliate mounts to their shoulders, which join to the sabots below with a band that runs down the length of each leg. A drawer is stamped ‘Edwards and Roberts’ and another features a metal label reading ‘LK7551’, while one mount is stamped ‘AD’.