What is the difference between a bureau and a secretaire?

In practice the words track the fall. Bureau usually describes the English sloping fall on a chest of drawers; secretaire tends to be used for vertical-fall chest forms, and appears in 42 titles. The vocabulary is unsettled, though. The same basic object gets called a bureau, a secretaire, an escritoire (29 titles), an abattant (16) or a bureau de dame (12) depending on the dealer writing it up.

Which timbers are most common?

Two carry the category almost between them. Mahogany appears in 138 titles and walnut in 126, with oak third at 67 and rosewood well behind at 14. Walnut turns up in its figured forms as well: 'burr' is in 24 titles and 'burr walnut' in 20. Mulberry wood surfaces only three times across the sample.

How old are most of these bureaux?

The dated field spans 1700 to 1930. Eighteenth-century and Georgian attributions together are the largest block by a wide margin, and a handful of samples are labelled 17th Century or even 'Before 1700'. There is also a clear early-twentieth-century tail, with 1920s, Edwardian and 1900s entries, taking in Arts and Crafts and later revival work. A period name in a title is not always a date. Queen Anne style, William and Mary style and Jacobean style are all used as style descriptions.

Are French and Dutch examples listed?

Yes. 'French' appears in 26 titles and 'Dutch' in 18, with Dutch marquetry named in 12. Continental pieces make up something between a tenth and a fifth of the category. Samples also throw up Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, South German, Norwegian, Biedermeier and Venetian bureaux, most of those only once or twice.

What does bureau de dame mean?

It is a small lady's writing bureau, lighter in build and more decorated than the standard form. Twelve titles use the term, and another eight say 'ladies'. These are frequently French, and rosewood or marquetry is a recurring note in the group.

Do unusual variants come up?

They do, roughly one apiece across the sample: a corner bureau, a table-top bureau, an apprentice miniature secretaire cabinet, a seventeenth-century vargueño on stand, a campaign military bureau in padouk and a bureau-form metamorphic drinks cabinet. Around 48 fall-front bureaux are listed a year on Sellingantiques, and 151 different dealers have offered one, so the odd shapes surface steadily.