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Fall-Front Desk

Wooden fold-out desk with many drawers, two gryphons perched at bottom.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Wooden fold-out desk with many drawers, two gryphons perched at bottom.

Date:

c. 1810

Artist:

Vienna, Austria

About this artwork

The inventive lyre shape of this secretary, surmounted by three stepped drawers and supported by griffins, identifies it as an elaborate, complex case form made in Vienna during the Napoleonic era. The upper half of the front falls forward to serve as a writing surface revealing interior compartments, drawers, and shelves. The secretary shares characteristics with the Empire style developed in France, a bolder and more severe expression of the Neoclassical interest in ancient Greek and Roman art. Though craftsmen throughout Europe studied French handbooks detailing new designs, models were not merely imitated; this example was made with materials and techniques typical of Viennese workshops. Its form has no direct source in antiquity, although the lyre shape and abundant decorative details—griffins, cornucopias, paw feet, and interior caryatid figures—are familiar classical motifs. The variety of woods, selected to create contrast between light areas and dark borders, matches the pastiche of decorative forms. Vienna was a major European design center in the early nineteenth century, and this desk type enjoyed wide popularity. Production continued throughout the ensuing Biedermeier era, into the 1840s.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Title

Fall-Front Desk

Place

Vienna (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1805–1815

Medium

Various woods and gilt-bronze mounts

Inscriptions

The upper left drawer signed at rear and also fitted lower right drawer: CP ET F. Impressed stamp at rear left side and on base: COMPOS´E PAR C. PERCIER ET PFL FONTAINE MDCCCXII.

Dimensions

141 × 91.4 × 39.4 cm (55 1/2 × 36 × 15 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Centennial Fund; Mrs. Burton W. Hales, Mrs. William O. Hunt, Jessie Spaulding Landon, Mrs. Harold T. Martin, Adelaide Ryerson, Mrs. E. Hall Taylor, Mrs. Chester D. Tripp, and Mrs. Philip K. Wrigley funds

Reference Number

1976.39

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/50330/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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