Stamped several times BEFORT JEUNE. A modified Régence revival style, made in the 2nd half of the 19th century, in the manner of NICOLAS SAGEOT and ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE. An elegant serpentine hardwood desk, decorated with marquetry flowers and rocaille in a combination of brown tortoiseshell and brass, with three frieze drawers, three further sham drawers, high quality bronze heads at the corners, also 6 bronze masks on the frieze, and the original red and gold embossed leather writing surface. Ca. 75 x 140 x 80 cm, In restored condition. (DOC)

Mathieu Befort (1813 - 1880)-known as BEFORT JEUNE ("Befort, the younger") always furnished his pieces with the stamp BEFORT JEUNE; between 1844 and 1880 his business was located in 1 and 6, rue Neuve-Saint-Gilles in Paris. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Befort (1783 - 1840), a Belgian, who was famous for having fitted out the rooms of the Duc d’ Orleans. His elder brother Bernard Béfort worked there between 1836 and 1858 and after that Mathieu took over the business until 1878. He specialised in the production of what was known as Boulle furniture and was greatly inspired by Boulle’s high quality works. The business taken over in 1880 by the equally renowned cabinet maker Joseph- Emmanuel ZWIENER.