A Louis XVI style gilt-bronze mounted amaranth, mahogany and marquetry bureau à cylindre, by Henry Dasson after the model by Jean-Henri Riesener, Paris, 1886 | Zylinderschreibtisch im Stile Louis XVI aus Amarant, Mahagoni und Marketerie und mit vergoldeten Bronzefassungen, von Henry Dasson nach einem Modell von Jean-Henri Riesener, Paris, 1886

The original of this magnificent desk can be seen in the Sully wing of the Louvre, room 632 (OA 5226), where it sits among a display of furniture that formerly belonged to Marie Antoinette. This desk, bearing marquetry and bronzes representing various Arts and Sciences, was delivered on 21^st December 1784 for 6260 livres (for the full description from 1784, see Alcouffe et al, pp.283-285)¹. It was first used in Marie Antoinette’s Château des Tuileries, and was subsequently in use at the Château de Saint Cloud for much of the 19^th century. Like many seminal pieces of furniture from before the French Revolution, it was widely admired and copied by Revivalist furniture makers in the 19^th century – not only Henry Dasson, as for the present lot, but also by his other top contemporaries such as François Linke and the Maison Krieger. 

¹ Daniel Alcouffe, Anne Dion-Tenenbaum and Amaury Lefébure, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol I, Dijon, 1993, pp.283-285.