A Continental Baroque Walnut, Amaranth, and Pewter- and Brass-Inlaid Tortoiseshell Boulle Marquetry Bureau, Germany or the Low Countries, early 18th Century

Collection de Madame X, Christie's London, 4 March 2004, lot 373

In its original iteration with the gateleg base, this rare and very unusual desk operated in the same manner as a bureau de changeur or moneychanger's desk, of which a few examples veneered in Boulle marquetry survive including a table formerly in the Desmarais Collection sold Sotheby's Paris, 28 June 2023, lot 405 and another from the Mavromatis Collection sold Sotheby's London, 8 July 2008, lot 3. The upper section with a slant front bureau and superstructure with tiers of drawers is typical of the production of the Antwerp cabinetmaker Hendrik Van Soest (active 1648-1716) and the workshop of the Bavarian court cabinetmaker Johann Puchwiser (active 1701-1744), as well as that of the Sommer family in Künzelsau.