Detail View: The AMICA Library: Small Desk (bureau brisé)
|
AMICA ID:
|
MMA_.1986.365.3
|
|
AMICA Library Year:
|
2000
|
|
Object Type:
|
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
|
|
Creator Name:
|
Oppenordt, Alexandre-Jean
|
|
Creator Role:
|
Maker
|
|
Creator Dates/Places:
|
1639-1715
|
|
Creator Name-CRT:
|
Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt
|
|
Creator Name:
|
Bérain, Jean
|
|
Creator Role:
|
Designer
|
|
Creator Dates/Places:
|
1640-1711
|
|
Creator Name-CRT:
|
Brass inlay designed and possibly engraved by Jean Bérain
|
|
Title:
|
Small Desk (bureau brisé)
|
|
Title Type:
|
Object name
|
|
View:
|
Detail
|
|
Creation Date:
|
17th century (ca. 1685)
|
|
Creation Start Date:
|
1683
|
|
Creation End Date:
|
1687
|
|
Materials and Techniques:
|
Oak, pine and walnut veneered with tortoiseshell; engraved brass, ebony and rosewood; bronze-gilt and steel
|
|
Classification Term:
|
Woodwork-Furniture
|
|
Dimensions:
|
H. 30 5/16 in. (77 cm), W. 41 3/4 in. (106 cm), D. 23 3/8 in. (59.4 cm)
|
|
AMICA Contributor:
|
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
|
|
Owner Location:
|
New York, New York, USA
|
|
ID Number:
|
1986.365.3
|
|
Credit Line:
|
Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1986
|
|
Rights:
|
|
|
Context:
|
This compact desk was made for Louis XIV by the relatively unknown Dutch cabinetmaker Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt (1639-1715). It was one of a pair made for the king's study, a small room in the north wing of Versailles. The closed top displays a blazon of Louis XIV's personal devices, including a crown above a monogram of interlaced L's. The crown is surmounted by a sunburst engraved with a now-indistinct outline of Apollo's mask. The sides of the top are inlaid with Apollo's lyres and the corners, with fleurs-de-lis. The Museum's desk belongs to a type of furniture called 'bureaux brisés' (literally, 'broken desks'). The top, shown closed, is hinged to open, or 'break,' along its width to reveal a fitted interior, veneered with Brazilian rosewood, that consists of a cramped writing surface with four drawers at the back. The 'bureau brisé' originated in 1669 and continued to be made until the early eighteenth century, when a large flat-topped writing table, the 'bureau plat,' replaced it. |
|
Related Image Identifier Link:
|
MMA_.es1986.365.3.AV2.tif
|