A fine gilt-bronze-mounted burrwood secrétaire à abattant Empire, first quarter 19th century

with a rectangular veined grey marble top, above a fall-front enclosing a fitted interior with a mirrored back, rows of columns and eight short drawers, flanked by freestanding Corinthinan columns, above a pair of cupboard doors, with gilt-bronze mounts throughout; en suite with the following lot 

Comparative Literature:
Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes Parisiens, 1790-1870, Paris, 1965, plate CXXVI, for a related secrétaire by Werner.

This piece with its finely cast chased gilt-bronze mounts and burrwood is very reminiscent of the work of J-J. Werner. 

Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849):

He was considered the greatest French cabinet-maker of the Restauration period in France and was also an interior decorator. Of  Swiss origin, he settled in Paris around 1812. Werner et Compagnie specialised in the production of marquetry furniture using local woods such as sycamore, elm and in particular ash. In 1820, Werner became the supplier to the garde-meuble as well as to the king of Bavaria and the Duchesse de Berry. Amongst his most famous commissions is the commode and secrétaire in the Museum of Arts Décoratifs in Paris, formerly in the appartments of the Governor in the Invalides in Paris and given to the museum by the War Minister in 1909.