This ormolu-enriched bureau plat, with columnar legs and corners enriched with antique-flutes and husk festoons, reflects the revived Louis XVI style that was encouraged in the late 19th century by Parisian firms such as that established by Franois Linke (d.1946).

The desk might have been amongst the French furniture brought by the Rev'd Alfred Curzon, 4th Baron Scarsdale (1831-1916), who inherited the estate in 1856. Another possibility is that it came from the London residence in Carlton House Terrace occupied from 1905 by George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Viscount Scarsdale and later Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (1859-1925).