Writing table (bureau plat)

Bernard II van Risenburgh

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Signed by Bernard van Risenburgh, who supplied a larger and more ornate bureau plat for the study of the dauphin at Versailles in 1745. A wood called satiné, producing an effect of watered silk, was used as a ground for the floral marquetry on both tables.

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