![Drawing, Elevation of a Writing Desk [Bureau Plat]]( https://images.collection.cooperhewitt.org/20130_a78c561045e22a9b_b.jpg
"Drawing, Elevation of a Writing Desk [Bureau Plat]")
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Drawing, Elevation of a Writing Desk [Bureau Plat]
This is a Drawing. It was designed by André-Charles Boulle and drafted by Gilles-Marie Oppenord. It is dated 1675–1700 and we acquired it in 1921. Its medium is red chalk on cream laid paper, lined. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
During the first decades of the eighteenth century, the workshop of André-Charles Boulle produced several desks with elaborate marquetry and gilt bronze mounts. Although luxury items, many were produced as non-commissioned pieces, indicating that there was a ready market for this type of furniture. In 1720, one desk with a flat top (bureau plat), now at the Château de Versailles, was made for Philippe II, the Duke of Bourbon. As the regent’s chief architect, Gilles-Marie Oppenord would presumably have been involved in arranging the commission and may have produced this drawing after Boulle’s design for his own records. The summary treatment of the ornament in this chalk drawing prevents it from functioning as a working design drawing, nor does it have the inspired urgency of a preparatory sketch. However, it is precise enough to provide a record of the desk’s graceful silhouette and rich ornaments.
This object was
donated by
Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Sarah Cooper Hewitt.
It is credited Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- Drawing, Study for the Sculpture "Autumn" for the Château de Wideville
- recto: red chalk on white laid paper; verso: black chalk, graphite.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1931-64-242
Its dimensions are
23.6 x 36.1 cm (9 5/16 x 14 3/16 in. )
It has the following markings
Stamp in brown, lower right corner: Lugt suppl. 645b; stamp in brown, lower left verso: Lugt suppl. 457e; stamped on paper affixed to lower right verso: 71 after which is inscribed in pen and black ink: AO Watermark: Heawood #710,714.715, or 716
It is signed
Signed in pen and black ink, lower left: G O [paraph of Gilles-Marie Oppenord
Cite this object as
Drawing, Elevation of a Writing Desk [Bureau Plat]; Designed by André-Charles Boulle (French, 1642 – 1732); Drafted by Gilles-Marie Oppenord (French, 1672–1742); France; red chalk on cream laid paper, lined; 23.6 x 36.1 cm (9 5/16 x 14 3/16 in. ); Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt; 1921-22-196
