{{Citations missing, date=August 2007 The fire screen desk (also known as a screen writing table) is a very small

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

desk form meant to be placed in front of a

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the desig ...

to keep a user's feet warm while he or she is stationary while writing. This kind of

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

was very popular in prosperous homes in Europe during the 18th century and slowly disappeared during the 19th, with the gradual introduction of

stove A stove or range is a device that burns fuel or uses electricity to generate heat inside or on top of the apparatus, to be used for general warming or cooking. It has evolved highly over time, with cast-iron and induction versions being develope ...

s and

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

. In order to keep the feet and the calves exposed to the heat from the fire, the fire screen desk usually had the form of a miniature

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 ...

or a tiny

bureau à gradin A bureau à gradin is an antique desk form resembling a writing table with, in addition, one or several tiers of small drawers and pigeonholes built on part of the desktop surface. Usually the drawers and pigeonholes directly face the user, but the ...

, with just a few drawers beneath the desktop. As its name indicates, it had a retractable fire screen in the back to protect the user's relatively exposed face from too much heat from the fireplace. The screen was usually made of a pleated or straight piece of heavy fabric, supported by crossed and sliding metallic supports. Many fire screen desks still exist, but the original screens have rarely survived. The metal supports or rods which extended the screens generally have been maintained with the desk. When the bare rods are in their extended position, they form an 'X shape' above the back of the desk. A few fire screen desks had no screen per se but were simply lighter, narrower, and extremely thinner versions of the high secretary desk put on some form of permanent trestle mount. Their high form shielded the user's face from the heat of the flames while the open trestle mount at the bottom exposed the feet. They were basically a smaller version of a French form called

Secretaire en portefeuille The secretaire en portefeuille is an antique desk form which is usually mounted on rollers at the end of four jutting legs. The legs in turn support what looks like an oversize vertically mounted wooden pizza box. This is a cabinet a few inches th ...

. The fire screen desk was often designed for use by a person of a specific gender: those designed for use by a female frequently had complex ornamentation and were generally smaller (light enough to be transported easily by a lady's maid) than those designed for use by a male. Because of these differences, individual desks were frequently called a ''gentleman's screen writing table'' or a ''lady's screen writing table''.

References

*Gloag, John. A Complete Dictionary of Furniture. Woodstock, N.Y. : Overlook Press, 1991. *De Reyniès, Nicole. Le Mobilier Domestique: Vocabulaire Typologique. Paris, Ministère de la Culture et de La Communication, 1987. Desks History of furniture

See also

References