Drop-front desk (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

Martin Carlin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On December 30, 1773, the marchand mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier sold Madame Du Barry "a secretary with French porcelain on a green ground highly decorated with gilt-bronze mounts." That description fits this piece which has, furthermore, porcelain plaques bearing the date letter for 1773. Since the secretary is not listed in Madame Du Barry's inventory it is possible that she intended the piece as a wedding gift for Louis XVI's younger brother Charles-Philippe, comte d'Artois and the future Charles X (1757-1836) and Marie-Thérèse of Savoy (1756-1805) who were married in 1773. A similar piece of furniture was, indeed, recorded among the comtesse d'Artois's belongings at Versailles in 1795. Although the description is very detailed and even included dimensions that correspond to those of the Metropolitan's secretary, it failed to mention the color of the borders on the Sèvres plaques. It could thus as easily refer to a closely related secretary now at Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury, England, which has plaques with blue borders.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art