Secrétaire

This secrétaire provided its owner with a display area fitted with glass doors at the top, a writing surface with pigeonholes concealed behind the fall front, and a storage cupboard at the bottom. The delicate, quatrefoil-patterned marquetry with mother-of-pearl inlay and the gilt bronze floral swags mounted at the top of the fall front soften its sharply rectilinear form. Although this secrétaire bears the stamp of the cabinetmaker Jacques Dubois, it was actually made by his son René. Both the form of the secrétaire and the cupboard with the glass doors above the central section are typical of René's style.