Cartonnier with Bout de Bureau and Clock

This piece of mid-1700s furniture, referred to as a cartonnier, is composed of three parts. At the top is a clock set with four lacquered bronze figures. It rests on the upper surface of a serre-papiers, a cupboard with five open shelves each of which was originally fitted with a leather fronted cardboard filing box, called cartons. It is set above a bout de bureau, a low shallow cabinet with a locking door on each short end. The ensemble was designed to be placed next to a matching desk and used like a modern filing cabinet in which documents were stored in the (now missing) boxes.The exterior surfaces of all three sections are painted with black European lacquer that seeks to imitate the look of lacquer from East Asia, particularly that from Japan. Motifs such as the pair of cranes, small bird, and large dragonfly on the front of the bout de bureau, were inspired by decoration found in Asian art, but arranged in dense, symmetrical compositions characteristic of European taste.