Secrétaire (3/4 left open)

The large panels of tortoiseshell, brass, and pewter that cover the front and sides of this secrétaire were originally used to decorate tabletops in the late 1600s. One tabletop forms the front, cut in half to form the fall front and a cupboard door beneath. The fall front lets down to form a writing surface. The second top has been cut along its length and used to decorate both sides of the secrétaire.

Furniture such as this secrétaire, made in the style now termed "Boulle revival," usually either incorporated panels of late 1600s marquetry by André-Charles Boulle or were conscious copies of works by that master. Boulle's work was still so popular a hundred years after his death that several ébénistes, including Philippe-Claude Montigny, produced furniture imitating his designs.

The gilt bronze mounts and the form of this piece are typical of the early Neoclassical style known as goût grec, popular with fashionable society. Indeed, the secrétaire is described twice, in the sale catalogues of two courtiers at Versailles, Monsieur de Billy and the comte de Vaudreuil.