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Writing table (bureau plat)

ca. 1780
Not on view
This bureau plat by Jean-François Leleu exemplifies the Neoclassical style favored by elite French patrons at the end of the eighteenth century. Jean-François Leleu (1729–1807) was trained, alongside his rival Jean-Henri Riesener, in the workshop of Jean-François Oeben. Leleu became a master ébéniste in 1764 and enjoyed the patronage of wealthy aristocrats, including the Prince de Condé, Louis-Joseph de Bourbon. Similar to the pieces produced for the prince de Condé’s Palais-Bourbon, this table reflects the strong, masculine Neoclassical forms favored by Leleu, evidenced by the tapering architectural legs and gilt-bronze ornaments. A similar writing table is rendered in the 1808 portrait of Charles Maurice Talleyrand by François Gérard also in the museum’s collection (2012.348).

References:
Yannick Chastang. Paintings in Wood: French Marquetry Furniture. London: The Wallace Collection, 2001.

Kahtyrn Calley Galitz, "François Gérard: Portraiture, Scandal and the Art of Power in Napoleonic France," The Metropolitan Musuem of Art Bulletin, LXXI: 1 (Summer 2013), 5–48.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Writing table (bureau plat)
  • Maker: Jean-François Leleu (1729–1807, master 1764)
  • Date: ca. 1780
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Oak, veneered with mahogany, sycamore and holly; gilt bronze, leather
  • Dimensions: 30 1/2 × 69 3/4 × 36 3/8 in. (77.5 × 177.2 × 92.4 cm)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1972
  • Object Number: 1972.284.6
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Architect’s table (table à la Tronchin), Jean-François Leleu, Mahogany and mahogany veneer on oak, gilt bronze, white metal, and leather, French
Architect’s table (table à la Tronchin)
Jean-François Leleu
ca. 1780–90
Table, Jean-François Leleu, Tulipwood, Sèvres porcelain, gilt bronze, leather, silk moiré, French, Paris and Sèvres
Table
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1766/7
Writing table (bureau plat), Gilles Joubert French, Lacquered oak, gilt-bronze mounts, lined with modern leather, French, Paris
Writing table (bureau plat)
Gilles Joubert
1759
Drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire), Guillaume Benneman, Oak veneered with tulipwood, kingwood, holly partly stained green, ebony, and mahogany; brèche d'Alep marble (not original); modern leather; gilt-bronze mounts, French, Paris
Drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire)
Multiple artists/makers
1786–87
Mechanical table, Jean Henri Riesener French, Oak veneered with mahogany and marquetry of bois satiné, sycamore, holly, ebonized holly fillets, and bayberry, the top with an amaranth border; gilt-bronze mounts; mirror glass; iron and brass fittings; green velvet (not original), French, Paris
Mechanical table
Multiple artists/makers
1781

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