Lady’s writing desk

This desk is inlaid with different types of wood to create figurative representations of flowers in vases. The wood with dark stripes, used the create the stems, was known as “purple wood” in Paris—where the desk was made—and as “king’s wood” in Germany, where the cabinetmaker was from. It was native only to the easternmost territories of Brazil, then under the control of the Portuguese monarchy, and was highly sought-after. The gilt mounts feature shells and other marine iconography, typical of the fashionable Rococo style that evoked exotic luxuries from across the seas.