BEFORT PÈRE († en 1840)

FLAT DESK WITH WOMEN'S HEADS, BOULLE STYLE Napoleon III period blackened wood, brass and tortoiseshell marquetry on oak frame; leather, glass H. 81 cm, W. 142 cm, D. 72 cm Stamped Provenance Private collection, Brussels Collection J.B. This flat desk, entirely decorated with brass arabesque marquetry in the style of Boulle in the first part, opens to three drawers in the belt, the middle drawer recessed, and rests on four curved legs. It is richly decorated with gilded bronzes. Male and female masks adorn the keyholes and the small sides. The falls are decorated with busts of crowned women and the hooves end in lion paws. The desk we present is stamped Befort père, it is made on the model of the flat desks designed by André-Charles Boulle between 1700 and 1720 (fig. 1) and intended for a prestigious clientele as attested by the desk of the princes of Condé kept at Versailles (fig. 2). Another known copy, attributed to Allard, can be found today in the United States, in the famous Marble House built for the Vanderbilts (fig. 3). This model is distinguished by its inlaid top, covered with green leather.