The cylinder desk is a

desk A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table (furniture), table-style work surface used in a school, office, home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading (activity), reading, writing, or using ...

that resembles a

Bureau Mazarin The bureau Mazarin is a 17th-century desk form named more or less in memory of Cardinal Mazarin, who was the Chief minister of France from 1642 to 1661. It is the earliest predecessor of the pedestal desk and differs from it by having only two tier ...

or a

writing table A writing table (French ''bureau plat'') has a series of drawers directly under the surface of the table, to contain writing implements, so that it may serve as a desk. Antique versions have the usual divisions for the inkwell, the blotter and th ...

equipped with small stacked shelves in front of the user's main work surface, and a revolving cylinder part that comes down to hide and lock up the working papers when the desk is not in use. Like the

rolltop desk A rolltop desk is a 19th-century reworking of the pedestal desk with, in addition, a series of stacked compartments, shelves, drawers and nooks in front of the user, much like the bureau à gradin or the Carlton House desk. In contrast to these, t ...

, which was invented much later, the cylinder desk usually has a fixed work surface: the paperwork does not have to be stored before the desk is shut. Some designs, however, have the capacity to slide the desk surface out a few inches to expand the available work area. The cylinder desk is also called "bureau Kaunitz", as it was allegedly introduced in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the first half of the 18th century by

Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (german: Wenzel Anton Reichsfürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg, cz, Václav Antonín z Kounic a Rietbergu; 2 February 1711 – 27 June 1794) was an Austrian and Czech diplomat and statesman in the Habsburg monarc ...

, then the ambassador of the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

to the French court. Regardless of the authenticity of its origin, the French court adopted this type of desk with great enthusiasm. The difficulty of producing wooden cylinder sections which would not warp over the years ensured that such desks were reserved for the rich. A few variants of this form have slats instead of a one-piece cylinder section. The most famous cylinder desk, and perhaps the most famous desk of all times, is the

Bureau du Roi The ''Bureau du Roi'' (, ''the King's desk''), also known as Louis XV's roll-top desk (french: Secrétaire à cylindre de Louis XV), is the richly ornamented royal cylinder desk which was constructed at the end of Louis XV's reign, and is now aga ...

manufactured for the French royalty in the 18th century.

References

*Aronson, Joseph. ''The Encyclopedia of Furniture'', 3rd edition. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1965. *Boyce, Charles. ''Dictionary of Furniture''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 1985. . *Brunhammer, Yvonne; Monique de Fayet. ''Meubles et ensembles, époque Louis XVI''. Paris, Éditions Charles Massin, 1965. Pages 59, 60, 61, 65. *De Reyniès, Nicole. ''Le Mobilier Domestique: Vocabulaire Typologique''. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1987. *Forrest, Tim and Paul J. Atterbury (consulting editor). ''The Bulfinch Anatomy of Antique Furniture: An Illustrated Guide to Identifying Period, Detail, and Design''. London: Bulfinch Press, 1996. . *Hinckley, F. Lewis. ''A Directory of Antique Furniture: The Authentic Classification of European and American Designs''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1988. . *Oglesby, Catherine. ''French Provincial Decorative Art''. New York: Scribner, 1951. *Payne, Christopher, ed. ''Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Furniture''. London: Conran Octopus, 1989. {{ISBN, 1-85029-197-7. See also the

list of desk forms and types This is a list of different types and forms of desks. Desk forms and types *Armoire desk *Bargueño desk * Bible box * Bonheur du jour *Bureau à gradin * Bureau brisé * Bureau capucin *Bureau Mazarin *''Bureau plat'', see Writing table * Butl ...

. Desks