Louis XV diplomatic desk veneered in rosewood with bois de rose threads, Genoa mid-18th century

A drawer on each of the four sides, the long sides designed to simulate three drawers side by side in the band, mouthpieces and shoes in chiseled and gilded bronze, leather top, furniture structure in pine, drawer interiors in poplar. width cm. 173 depth cm. 99 height cm. 78.5 The furniture is an interesting example of high quality, rare for its large size. of mid-18th century Genoese cabinet making, clearly derived from Parisian bureau plats by cabinet makers such as BVRB or Jacques Dubois who had updated the desk model conceived a few decades earlier by André Charles Boulle. Genoese specimens often stand out only for the greater sobriety of the bronze decoration and for the woods used for the structure and interiors of the drawers, different from the French ones. The shape of the belt and the style of the legs of this desk allow it to be dated to a rather early moment compared to other similar specimens, as confirmed by the keyhole escutcheons and the bronze shoes equipped with a model no longer in use after the middle of the century. A Genoese peculiarity is the solution of drawers on all four sides, not common but present on other known "diplomatic desks", evidently intended for the contemporary use of several people. The influence on 18th-century Genoese cabinet making of France, to which the patriciate was politically and culturally linked, is well documented, always careful to live according to the fashion of Paris. In the letters to their commercial representatives there is a constant request for the sending of furniture and objects, which were then sources of inspiration for the best local artisans. An example of a Parisian bureau plat of a similar model, present since the time in a Genoese residence, is still preserved in the Durazzo Pallavicini collection (Edy Baccheschi, Il Palazzo Durazzo Pallavicini, 1995, n. 198, pages 348-349) Lodovico Caumont Caimi - Each object in our Gallery is sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by an Expert of the Court and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of Genoa.