POSSIBLY ENGLISH, IN THE MANNER OF JEAN-FRANCOIS OEBEN, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

With its playful dolphin mounts to the angles and lateral sides, the present bureau plat is closely related to one in the collection of the Earl of Rosebury (illustrated in F. Buckland, 'A Group of Bureaux Plats and the Royal Inventories’, The Journal of The Furniture History Society, vol. VIII, 1972, pl. 38A) but not offered in the celebrated Mentmore sales of May 1977. The Rosebury bureau plat was formerly thought to be that delivered by Jean-François Oeben in 1756 to the cabinet intérieur for Louis, the Dauphin, at the Château de Versailles, though this was not the case. However, a number of similar bureau plats and tables are associated with Oeben’s renowned atelier. The form was known to have been widely imitated in the 19th century, and the presence of one such desk at Mentmore could have inspired English furniture makers of the mid to late 19th century, who created fine furniture in the styles of the French Ancien Régime to meet a burgeoning demand by British clientele.