A Louis XV/Louis XVI Transitional Gilt-Bronze Mounted Kingwood, Tulipwood and Marquetry Secrétaire à Abattant from the Château de Chanteloup, Circa 1770

Probably supplied to Étienne François de Choiseul-Stainville, Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) for the Château de Chanteloup, circa 1770, and acquired with the château by Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duc de Penthièvre (1725 -1793) in 1785

Originally built for the Princesse des Ursins by the architect Robert de Cotte on the banks of the Loire river near Amboise in the early 18th century, the Château de Chanteloup was acquired in 1761 by Louis XV's prime minister the Duc de Choiseul, who expanded the already large domain into one of the most important formal gardens in the kingdom after Versailles. Following his exile from the court in 1770 the Duc also famously commissioned an Anglo-Chinese garden including a neoclassically-styled pagoda inspired by the Great Pagoda designed by William Chambers at Kew Gardens, built in 1775 by the architect Louis-Denis Le Camus and today regarded as an iconic example of European chinoiserie architecture of the second half of the 18th century.

Following Choiseul's death, the château and its contents were bought by the Duc Penthièvre, who undertook an inventory of its contents in 1787 during which the furniture was branded with his stamp of a crowned CP and anchor, reflecting his position as Grand Admiral of the French Royal Navy. The château was nationalised by the Revolutionary government and largely dismantled from 1823, though a portion of the park including the pagoda has survived. Several major pieces of furniture that reflect the importance of the Duc de Choiseul's interiors at Chanteloup, including a goût grec bureau plat and cartonnier attributed to Simon Oeben and a magnificent Louis XV Chinese lacquer commode by Jean Demoulin, are now in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Tours.