French-antiques

Flat top desk

Find a flat top desk

Until the 17th C desks had a slope top and were only used by scribes.  It is in the late 17th C that the first flat top desks, or writing tables, appear.  The Mazarin desk is a huge flat top with eight legs.  This was followed by smaller desks on four legs. Louis XV desk, the Rococo style desk with frieze drawers and on cabriole legs  was popular, followed by the Louis XVI desk with flat top on straight fluted legs.  The flat top desk usually has a leather topped writing surface and pull-out side leaves.




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