The central element of the side panels, with their sphinxes flanking a vase of flowers above two birds, is of identical design to the fall-front of another Rothschild bureau mazarin reputedly from Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, which was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 11 June 1998, lot 104. Interestingly, the decoration of the top of both bureaux are also identical in most respects, although they are veneered in contre and premire partie respectively and the offered bureau has some added zoomorphic designs to the top - probably because of its larger scale, being 55 in. (140 cm.) wide while the one sold in 1998 was 44 in. (112 cm.) wide. The two bureaux were almost certainly executed in the same atelier, therefore, with the designs adapted to accomodate the differing sizes.

The exceptional collection at Mentmore was assembled by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (d. 1874) who, ahead of contemporary taste, actively collected the finest French furniture and objects from the 1840s onwards. Subsequently inherited by the Earls of Rosebery through the marriage of his only daughter, Hannah, the contents of Mentmore was largely sold in 1977, but several of the finest pieces are now at Dalmeny House, Scotland.