Antique Mechanical Desk signed "Lesage"

Another surprising work from the 1830s (the last breath of the traditional timeline of period furniture), signed by one of the foremost names/makers of the Romantic period; Antoine-Nicolas Lesage. The design of such a drawer which deploys and unfolds a writing surface was purportedly designed by the Jacob firm with input from Napoleon several decades earlier. This design becomes less rarefied by the 1830s when several makers presented such desks at the 1834 precursor to the World's Fairs, l'exposition des produits de l'industrie française (Fischer and Denard, notably). The desk opens by six drawers made of solid mahogany, and one large "ecritoire" or writing shelf which reveals an olive green leather and two drawers in burled elm. Locking the writing shelf blocks a mechanism which locks all of the drawers simultaneously.