Ormolu mounted marquetry French antique secrétaire

In the style of Louis XVI, elaborately decorated with marquetry scenes and ormolu mounts, featuring a veined white marble top above an ormolu mounted frieze, with drop front writing panel below, opening to reveal several drawers and open shelves, with a further door underneath

The inspiration for this secrétaire originates from a similar piece made in 1783, by French royal cabinet maker Jean Henri Riesener. Riesener's work was commissioned by Marie-Antoinette for her palace at Versailles, and features a black lacquer Japanese case. The original is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (accession number: 20.155.11). In 1920, the famous American businessman and philanthropist William Kissam Vanderbilt I (1849-1920) bequeathed the secretaire to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.