Spanish walnut desk on a foot of bridge, s.XVII

Spanish walnut desk on a foot of bridge, s.XVII

Restoration, hardware and foot of the nineteenth century.

60.5x42x115 cm Bridge: 87x44x100 xm

In the court of Philip II of Spain and the successors, the most iconic furniture is the desk with the aim of collect books or papers. During the reign of Charles II of Spain, in parallel to the writers of ebony and ivory and those of shell and bronze, a desktop model is developed in Castile that becomes the most widespread type. It is mostly made of walnut. On the outside they are smooth, with a flip top only on the front, decorated on the outside only with large fittings placed on red velvet, located at the corners of reinforcement of the corners and under the locks, latches, handles and side handles . Inside, reproductions of classic facades with doors, pediments and padded walls separated by pilasters and paired columns on pedestals in the style propagated by Serlio, Palladio and Vignola are usually included. The support of open foot or foot of spike, was commonly used as a support in Italy in the mid-16th century and is reinterpreted in Spain by 19th-century.

MARIA PAZ AGUILÓ ALONSO, "Mobiliario en el siglo XVII" En: VV.AA, Mueble español. Estrado y dormitorio, (cat. exp.), Madrid, 1990, pp.117-118.