A rare French mid-19th century ebony and ebonised Japanese lacquer bureau à dos d'âne, possibly by Louis Auguste Alfred Beurdeley, Paris. photo Bonhams

the fall front opening to a lacquered interior fitted with three drawers surmounted by a pigeon hole, above a gilt tooled red leather writing surface, the frieze with a simulated drawer with a central stylised foliate mount, flanked to each corner by a scrolling acanthus clasp, on cabriole legs and pierced scrolling sabots, 97cm wide, 48cm deep, 89cm high (38" wide, 18.5" deep, 35" high). Estimate: £30,000 - 50,000, US$ 49,000 - 82,000, € 35,000 - 58,000 - Unsold

Note: The innovation of the design, notably the creation of unusual floral mounts, the perfectionism in composition as well as in execution allow to relate this bureau to the Beurdeleys. The present piece, that can be dated circa 1860, would then have been made by Louis Auguste Alfred Beurdeley when he started to work as an ébéniste, before his son developed the workshop.

In the Catalogue des modèles pour bronzes d'art, meubles de style et de grande décoration provenant de la Maison A.Beurdeley, in 1898, 22-25 March, under the lot number 639, features a Petit bureau Louis XV, à dos d'âne, chûte à palmette.

The lacquer panels to the interior, with designs fitted into a circle, might correspond to old Japanese family crests.

Provenance: - collection Pierre Lecoules, Paris.

Bonhams. Fine European Furniture, Sculpture and Works of Art including the Beurdeley collection. New Bond Street, 6 Jul 2011 at 14:00 www.bonhams.com