A gilt-bronze-mounted kingwood and parquetry bureau plat stamped with the letters EC and the Fontainebleau marque au fer and the ink inventory marks 1686 above 1753 M . N 947 Commission Gouvernement N 8 Louis XV, mid 18th century

the leather-lined top of serpentine outline within a moulded brass edge with cartouche cast corner clasps, above a frieze drawer flanked on either side by a drawer, opposing three dummy drawers, on square cut cabriole legs with espagnolette cast volutes and leaf and hoof sabots, with foliate and rocaille cast handles and escutcheons;



possibly reveneered and side masks possibly replaced 

Probably acquired by Sir William Fowle Middleton, 2nd Bt., for Shrubland Park, Suffolk, circa 1830 

Inventory, Shrubland Park, 1860 (Vols. 1 & 2), p. 47, in the Ante Drawing Room, `Five feet 6 inch writing table with three drawers of inlaid fancy wood richly ornamented with ormolu mountings and green morocco top-'
Sotheby's Inventory, Shrubland Park, 1958, p. 16, The Drawing Room: 1500.0.0 

This bureau was delivered in 1751 by Gaudreaux to the Château de Marly where it remained until the Revolution. In 1777, the Garde-Meuble made an inventory of all the French Royal pieces. Under the number 1686 there is described: `Un bureau de travail de cinq pieds de long, trente pouces de large et vingt neufs pouces de haut baty de chêne plaqué en bois d'amarante garni de bronze doré d'or moulu à carderon de cuivre isolé (ciselé?).'
A serre-papier was delivered at the same t.mes . In the margin it is stated to be in Marly which is corroborated by the other mark MN 947, which is the mark of the Château de Marly. During the Revolution it was reserved by the Revolutionary governement, hence the label, `Commission'. Later in the 19th century it was sent to Château de Fontainebleau confirmed by the Fontainebleau stamp and EC is that of the Ecuries (stables) at Fontainebleau.  

The Château de Marly, built by Jules-Hardouin Mansart, served as a hunting lodge for Louis XIV the Roi Soleil, where according to the duc de Saint-Simon was the only place the king felt truly at ease. Set around a large pièce d’eau, the main building was flanked by a series of six pavilions on either side.