What is an Empire style bureau plat?

A bureau plat is a French flat-topped writing table featuring drawers beneath the main surface. The Empire style originated during the reign of Napoleon I, incorporating classical Greco-Roman motifs, symmetrical forms, and polished mahogany adorned with heavy gilt bronze ormolu mounts.

What materials are traditionally used in 19th-century French writing tables?

These tables are typically constructed from fine hardwoods such as mahogany or rosewood, lined with hand-tooled leather writing surfaces, and trimmed with cast, chased, and gilded bronze mounts known as ormolu.

How do you identify authentic French Empire ormolu mounts?

Authentic period mounts exhibit fine hand-chasing, mercury gilding, and precise casting detailing motifs like sphinxes, caryatids, palmettes, and laurel wreaths. They are secured from behind with hand-cut screws rather than modern uniform threads.

How can an antique writing table be styled in modern interiors?

An antique bureau plat serves as a focal point in a contemporary study or library when paired with streamlined, neutral seating and modern architectural lighting to highlight the bronze detailing and rich wood tones.

How should mahogany and ormolu mounts be maintained?

Dust the timber with a dry microfibre cloth and apply beeswax periodically in the direction of the grain. Ormolu mounts should be dusted gently without harsh chemical polish, as abrasive cleaners can strip the delicate gilding.

for sale €6,962 $7,557

£5,950

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Neoclassical Bureau Plat

French Empire Writing Desk

Id #SA1220800

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Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

Name: Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C
Brand: Antique
SKU: SA1220800
Price: 5950 GBP
Availability: InStock

19th century

For Sale by Regent Antiques

Description

This is a fine antique French gilt-bronze mounted flame mahogany Empire bureau plat, Circa 1820 in date.

The rectangular top is fitted with a black gold-tooled inset leather writing surface, the frieze with five spacious drawers. The desk features finely cast ormolu mounts in the classic Empire style including Egyptian revival masks hemion, palmette mounts, trailing ribbon and escutcheons.

The desk is raised on four square section tapering legs standing on square gilded lion's paw sabots.

The desk is free standing, finished all round, it can stand freely in the centre of a room and is sure to get lots of attention wherever it is placed.

Complete with original working locks and keys.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished, waxed and releathered in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 75 cm x Width 150 cm x Depth 86 cm

Height 62 cm - Knee Height

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 4 foot, 11 inches x Depth 2 foot, 10 inches

Height 2 foot - Knee Height

Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'.

The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.

After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt.

Flame Mahogany

Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as "best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed." Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called "flame mahogany."

The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.

Our reference: A5249a

Physical Dimensions

Height

75cm (29.53")

Width

150cm (59.06")

Depth

86cm (33.86")

Declaration

Regent Antiques has dated this Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat to the 19th Century.

Reference Numbers

Sellingantiques Reference

SA1220800

Dealers Internal Reference

A5249a

Description

This is a fine antique French gilt-bronze mounted flame mahogany Empire bureau plat, Circa 1820 in date.

“

The rectangular top is fitted with a black gold-tooled inset leather writing surface, the frieze with five spacious drawers.

Regent Antiques

The desk features finely cast ormolu mounts in the classic Empire style including Egyptian revival masks hemion, palmette mounts, trailing ribbon and escutcheons.

fig 1. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 1. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

The desk is raised on four square section tapering legs standing on square gilded lion's paw sabots.

The desk is free standing, finished all round, it can stand freely in the centre of a room and is sure to get lots of attention wherever it is placed.

fig 2. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 2. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

Complete with original working locks and keys.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished, waxed and releathered in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

fig 3. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 3. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

Height 75 cm x Width 150 cm x Depth 86 cm

Height 62 cm - Knee Height

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 4 foot, 11 inches x Depth 2 foot, 10 inches

Height 2 foot - Knee Height

Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'.

fig 4. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 4. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.

fig 5. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 5. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt.

fig 6. A nineteenth-century French Empire style mahogany bureau plat featuring gilt bronze ormolu mounts, tapered legs, five drawers, and a black leather writing surface. — fig 6. Antique Empire Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk Writing Table 19th C

Flame Mahogany

Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as "best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed." Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called "flame mahogany."

The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.

Our reference: A5249a