[classical piano]
Male Narrator This desk, or secrétaire, features porcelain plaques that were produced at the royal Sèvres Manufactory, near Paris. Their use as furniture ornamentation was characteristic of the desk’s creator, Martin Carlin. The large front panel drops down to provide a horizontal writing surface. The central circular plaque is a tour de force of painting featuring honeysuckle, morning glories, anemones, hollyhocks, narcissi, blue hyacinth, and primulas. They are painted so naturalistically that they look like fresh cuttings. Producing a plaque with so many colors would have been difficult because a separate firing was required after each color was applied.
The curved plaque extending from the lower horizontal border is notable for its irregular shape and the gilt bronze border - a fringe of coils that appears to drop with the weight of gravity.
J. Paul Getty was as concerned with the aesthetics of a piece as he was with its provenance, or record of ownership. Formerly, this secrétaire was owned by the Vienna branch of the Rothschild family. Getty admired the Rothschilds for their discerning eye, especially when it came to French decorative arts, calling them “unquestionably the foremost collectors of French eighteenth-century furniture during the past hundred years.”
