The pattern for this decorative style of lady's desk, mounted with flowered Sevres plaques, was invented by the Parisian dealer (marchand mercier) Simon-Philippe Poirier in the mid 1760s and manufactured by Martin Carlin (maitre ebeniste 1766). One of 1768 was acquired around 1830 by the 5th Duke of Buccleuch from the London dealer Edward Holmes Baldock, who made a speciality of this type of furniture (see T. Murdoch, Broughton House, 1992, pl. 76).