Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Riesener is famous for making roll-top desks. After delivering the bureau du roi to Louis XV in 1769, he continued to develop the model, supplying them in various sizes and forms to members of the French royal family and their court.
Each desk is complex in construction, having a roll top which conceals drawers and shelves (and sometimes secret compartments) for storing books, papers and writing implements, above a textile-lined surface for letter writing. The contents of the lower drawers would have been protected from prying eyes by an ingenious locking mechanism which prevents them from being released without unlocking and opening the roll-top.
Watch the video of a desk at the Wallace Collection to discover the technical brilliance of Riesener’s furniture design.
wallacecollection.org/blog/riesener-project
Music credit: Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major, BWV 1048 (Bach, Johann Sebastian). Composition Year: 1718. Performer: Advent Chamber Orchestra (orchestra). Publisher: Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive. Copyright Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0
Riesener is famous for making roll-top desks. After delivering the bureau du roi to Louis XV in 1769, he continued to develop the model, supplying them in various sizes and forms to members of the French royal family and their court.
Each desk is complex in construction, having a roll top which conceals drawers and shelves (and sometimes secret compartments) for storing books, papers and writing implements, above a textile-lined surface for letter writing. The contents of the lower drawers would have been protected from prying eyes by an ingenious locking mechanism which prevents them from being released without unlocking and opening the roll-top.
Watch the video of a desk at the Wallace Collection to discover the technical brilliance of Riesener’s furniture design.
wallacecollection.org/blog/riesener-project
Music credit: Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major, BWV 1048 (Bach, Johann Sebastian). Composition Year: 1718. Performer: Advent Chamber Orchestra (orchestra). Publisher: Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive. Copyright Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0
